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Author Topic: College grad with Getty demand for an image used in a school project.  (Read 5358 times)

ACM

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Hello all, I'm a 25 year old designer in Illinois and I have just found this message board.

 I received a demand letter from Getty images last weekend stating that I used an image from their site without a license and demanding $875 within 14 days to prevent "further action".  I found the image somewhere else through Google image search a few years ago and used it for a school project while I was in college.  A couple of months ago, I put this project on my personal website (which is where they seem to have found it). 

I haven't profited form the use of this image in any way, and it appears in 214x206 size on the website (that gets almost no traffic), so $875 seems unreasonable.  Based on my research, it seems they do this less to protect their own interests and more for the sake of bullying small fish for profit. 

Much of the advice I have seen here (and elsewhere) suggests either sending a carefully crafted response, or outright ignoring them.  I am only a couple years into the beginning of my career and I don't have a lot of money saved up yet.  $875 wouldn't bankrupt me, but I am not one to simply fork over money when I am threatened. I don't have money to pay for a lawyer, so if they did decide to come after me, I feel like I would be pretty screwed.  It seems like the consensus here is that calling them would be a bad idea.

I called a lawyer in the area who supposedly specializes in copyright stuff, and he basically told me that the cost of hiring them would outweigh the $875 they are asking for.

Should if I were to ignore this, what risks would I be taking?

If I did want to respond to them, should I write the letter myself?  As I said, I don't really have any money for a lawyer.

How concrete is their 14 day ultimatum?  Their letter is dated 9/11/2013, I received it on 9/14/2013, so that deadline is 9/25/2013 (6 days from now).  I don't want to screw myself by fighting this and ending up in court when I could have forked over the money earlier on, but I also don't want to give in to extortionists.

How does a young designer of meager means protect themselves in this situation?

Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

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Re: College grad with Getty demand for an image used in a school project.
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2013, 01:11:03 PM »
The deadline is a scare tactic used to try and pressure you into paying so don't worry about it.  There is a lot of good information here and you can fight this yourself as I did with reading the forums and asking questions.  If you do not have the time or inclination to fight it yourself you can use Oscar's Defense letter program.

Look at letters posted that people have written.  If you want to see what to expect in the way of letters and how I fought them look at the experiment against Getty thread.  Don't panic, it is nothing like the letter makes it sound, read, get educated and ask questions and you will be fine.

--Greg
Every situation is unique, any advice or opinions I offer are given for your consideration only. You must decide what is best for you and your particular situation. I am not a lawyer and do not offer legal advice.

--Greg Troy

lucia

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Re: College grad with Getty demand for an image used in a school project.
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2013, 01:53:56 PM »
The 14 days is definitely a scare tactic.  Phoning is definitely a bad idea.

Things that can be useful to do while you are deciding how to respond:
0) Take down the image. This is a must.
1) Look at your html. Was the image hosted on your server? Did you even upload the image to the university server?  Or did you hotlink (i.e. just link to the image hosted on a server you never had the ability to upload to.)  If you did not host it on your server and never uploaded to a university server, you did something called 'hotlinking'.  The highest courts to address the issue of hotlinking in the US say it is not-- read not-- as in absolutely not-- a copyright violation. So, if that's a case let us know. Be jubulent.  ( If you only uploaded to a university server... I'd suggest a small sigh of relief. Because I bet a good lawyer might argue "fair use" and they might win. but it's not certain.)

But assuming you can't breath the long sigh of relief:
2) Find the image at getty image. Look up the photographer at the US copyright office search site to see whether they have individually registered their copyright themselves.  See whether you can find the registration at the office in anyway shape or form.  If the answer is no (and it is likely to be no) failure to register before you copied significantly reduces the upper bound for any damages getty could win.  This also means they are unlikely to sue because they probably couldn't win enough to cover the cost of paying their lawyers. Of course it also means that if you lost, you still wouldn't have to pay them much. (If you need help on this step, ask. Start by visiting http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First )  On the other hand, if your image turns out to be some spectacular image, or a celebrity image that was registered by the photographer .... well... you want to know that. Damages could be higher.  That said: that letter sounds like the standard amount the ask for garden variety photos that aren't really worth much. So, check.

3) Search for the image on google so you can see how many other people copied it.  Make records of how many you found (screen shots etc.) In the highly unlikely event Getty would go to court for this, showing scads of images online  might eventually help in court-- though we can't be sure.  The issue would merely be an argument over damages.  But also, you might hit the jackpot and find the image is sold at multiple sites. If so, that would put the kibosh on Getty's ability to sue because they can only sue on behalf of the copyright holder if they have an exclusive license.  While the photographer might have signed stuff granting that license, it may also turn out that the photographer isn't sticking with it,and that might kill Getty's case because, contract or no contract, the judge might decree that if the photographer doesn't behave as if he granted an exclusive license, then he didn't grant it!

4) Be aware that if you take the image down after getting the letter and Getty wants to sue, they must file in your jurisdiction.  (There is some question they might be able to sue in WA if you don't take it down. So do take it down!)  Being required to sue in your jurisdiction means you won't have to travel to their jurisdiction (Seattle WA) to defend. This is an advantage for you because they know it costs them money to sue.   If the situation looks like the most they could win is $200, and it will cost them $1000 in filing fees and attorneys fees, air fair etc. to sue... well.. you can imagine they will be unlikely to sue at all. 

All these things are good to know before deciding what to do because they tell you what the worst that could happen is.   (Obviously, the best that could happen is magically, you never receive another letter. But that's not going to happen. No matter how flimsy Getty's case, almost matter what you do-- write, email, phone-- you will receive another letter.  The only way to not get another letter is to have an attorney write a letter for you in which case they need to write the attorney.)


ACM

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Re: College grad with Getty demand for an image used in a school project.
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2013, 02:25:31 PM »
Some more details based on what I've heard so far.

I took the images down immediately and removed them from the server they were on.  I did this project years ago, but I didn't upload it to my website until this June or so.  I was taking an HTML class (after college, just for personal interest, I'm not a web developer) and I made a simple HTML website as practice and put my projects from school on it for content.  I paid for a domain name and hosting, partly to learn how to do it, and partly because I thought it would be a neat way to show off my design work.  There are some other websites that I don't own where I uploaded the same project.  These are sites designed to show off your portfolio, so I'm not sure if I'm responsible for those as well, but I took all of that down just to be safe.

I will follow your steps later today lucia and update you with answers.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2013, 02:27:43 PM by ACM »

lucia

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Re: College grad with Getty demand for an image used in a school project.
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2013, 02:57:21 PM »
but I took all of that down just to be safe.
That was wise.

Oscar Michelen

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Re: College grad with Getty demand for an image used in a school project.
« Reply #5 on: October 07, 2013, 10:20:16 PM »
Take them all down is the best advice. That a lawyer would charge you more than the damages are worth is precisely why the Getty program works, why this site is visited by 12,000 unique visitors per month, why my firm and I have represented over 900 businesses against Getty through our letter defense program and why Getty hates us. 

 

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