ExtortionLetterInfo Forums
ELI Forums => Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: scraggy on October 11, 2012, 02:35:27 PM
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Yesterday, we had a very important court victory against the “Getty Images Master Delegate” here in Israel. A court in Tel Aviv wrote a very long, detailed and totally damning verdict against Marot Images.
This was the first time that any case involving Marot Images as the sole plaintiff went the full distance, and Marot Images suffered an extremely damaging verdict, and hopefully killer blow to their ability to continue with their “business model”.
Here are the basic details. A woman called Gili Mazor received the standard “ pay up or we will sue you” letter. She signed a compromise agreement, and agreed to pay around $1000 to Marot Image ( Getty Images representative here in Israel ).
She then found me online, and I explained to Gili why Marot could not possibly own the exclusive license needed here in Israel for Marot to have a legal right to sue her. Her case was even more clear cut because according to the website of Dorling Kindersley books (part of Penguin books, owned by Pearson Education), that also sold the same image, they (DK) owned the copyright! In other words, even Getty did not own the exclusive license, so how could Marot have received any such license from them? The photographer in this case no longer owned the copyright. I also wrote to DK books, and they informed me that they had not given an exclusive license to any other body, including Getty (that only had a non-exclusive license to sell the image). In this case, neither Marot nor Getty had a legal right to sue.
Gili then hired a lawyer (the same lawyer as in the class action suit – Shahar Zamler), and informed Marot that she was canceling the agreement as it was signed under false pretenses and as a result of deception (Marot did not own the right to sue her as they had claimed).
Marot sued Gili for $1000 for violating the compromise agreement. At the first court hearing, the judge warned Marot not to continue with their case, but they insisted. Four months later, they produced (out of the blue) a letter from the photographer in which he wrote that he “gave Marot Image an exclusive license”, but the license itself was not attached! The letter was not dated, nor did it state precisely when any such license had been granted to Marot. No agreement between the photographer and Getty was produced (despite Marot’s claim that they had such an agreement in their possession).
Marot believed firmly that they would win this case, because they felt that the judge would view the fact that Gili violated the agreement as the main issue. However, the judge wrote a 17-page verdict that totally tore their case to pieces. He threw out the letter, explained why Marot did not own an exclusive license, and accepted Gili’s claim that Marot had deceived her into signing the agreement in the first place.
Here is a link to a legal site that wrote a short summary of the case today. It’s a Google translation from Hebrew to English, but it’s the best I can do! Actually, it’s pretty clear!
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=iw&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.psakdin.co.il%2Fnews%2Farticle.asp%3FPDUID%3Dnws_nlrx
Here’s the verdict itself, which none of you will be able to read!
http://www.psakdin.co.il/kAnnex/nws_nlrx_1.pdf
You can look for the words GETTY in the verdict if you like – גיטי
The verdict is the first ever that involves Marot Image as the single plaintiff (they had sued together with Getty prior to 2007), and the main conclusion of the verdict is that Getty cannot transfer an exclusive license or right to sue to Marot Image ( under Israeli law ). This was a very important verdict that hopefully will strengthen the class action suit.
I still can’t believe that Marot was so eager to go all the way. They stood to lose so much more than they stood to gain!
Ian Cohen
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Thanks a lot for the update!! This is great news!!
I still confused about Marot and Getty.
Were Marot and Getty actually "connected"? Or, was Marot simply saying that they had Getty behind them in order to scare people?
Thanks again; great work!!
S.G.
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Were Marot and Getty actually "connected"?
Yes! totally connected! Refer back to my post on the class action suit. A whole section is devoted to the Getty's active involvement in the actions of Marot Image.
https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/class-action-suit-filed-against-getty-images-master-delegate-in-israel/&sa=U&ei=FxR3UMz7ArDa4QSK7YA4&ved=0CAcQFjAA&client=internal-uds-cse&usg=AFQjCNE2Lccwx53dnMxawXdet6iGgySFkQ
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I wonder what it would cost to have that PDF translated into english?? it's only 8 pages.. If Scraggy doesn't know someone willing, I'll see if I can find someone..I need to see see and understand this better! Great work Ian!
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Robert, if you want to talk on Skype one day, I can explain the entire case. I was in court yesterday. I also prepared the defense. I know the case inside out! I also have the protocol.
Ian
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Scraggy, thank you so much for reporting this wonderful news!
And I hope this case helps you win even bigger in the class action suit that you are pursuing.
A big win for the guys in the white hats.
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This is awesome news, thank you so much for the update Ian!
@Robert I agree we need to get this translated, I ask around here too and see if I can find someone.
:) :) :) :) :) :)
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Yes... many readers of the forum will be pleased that Getty comes out looking quite badly in this too.
S.G.
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Ian, this is fabulous news. Thank you so much for sharing and for doing what you're doing to stop these payment extraction schemes. Looking forward to reading the summary tomorrow when I'm back online.
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I nominate Ian for the next "Eli Factor" video. He and Robert (or Matt or all 3) should do a Oovoo video conference and share it here.
Good work Ian.
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I immediateley thought of that when he mentioned skype..would you care to join us as well Jerry?
I nominate Ian for the next "Eli Factor" video. He and Robert (or Matt or all 3) should do a Oovoo video conference and share it here.
Good work Ian.
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I would be happy to if we can get our schedules to collide and Ian likes the idea.
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i'll see if we can make it happen, time zones may be an issue I think it's like yesterday evening over there.. :o
I would be happy to if we can get our schedules to collide and Ian likes the idea.
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I certainly hope that Ian is willing as I think that would be an extremely interesting episode of the Eli Factor and would love to hear about it in detail. I hope everyone can get their schedules synced.
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Thanks for the compliments, but I am not so sure that now is the right time for the video. The class action suit is very much ongoing, and I am still helping half a dozen others in their individual suits against Marot Image. Maybe at a later date. For now, I am more than willing to talk to anyone on Skype privately.
The verdict of two days ago means that Marot can no longer directly threaten people with legal action, as the judge ruled that they have no legal rights to take any such action. The judge ruled specifically that even if Getty owns the exclusive license, they cannot transfer it to an additional party ( Marot ) . It was the first time that a court judgement has related to this issue. Only the copyright holder or the owner of the exclusive license have the legal right to sue for copyright infringement. Marot is neither!
Furthermore, it was also the first court ruling in Israel that resembled the Righthaven verdicts in the USA, by stating that the transfer of the right to sue, as a stand alone right, was not legal under Israeli copyright law.
Now the question is whether Getty will return to Israel to sue in its own name. I have my doubts! We will be waiting for them!
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Here is another Internet legal article that mentions Getty Images. "Mirrors Image" is Marot Image. The translation is courtesy of Google!
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=iw&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpatent.glazberg.com%2F2012%2F10%2F%25D7%25A4%25D7%25A1%25D7%2599%25D7%25A7%25D7%2594-%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2590%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2590%25D7%2599%25D7%259E%25D7%2592-%25D7%25A4%25D7%25A2%25D7%259C%25D7%2594-%25D7%259C%25D7%2590%25D7%259B%25D7%2599%25D7%25A4%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2596%25D7%259B%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2599%25D7%2595%25D7%25A6.html%3Futm_source%3Dfeedburner%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DFeed%253A%2Bglazberg%252FEkXd%2B%2528%25D7%25A4%25D7%2599%25D7%2598%25D7%25A4%25D7%2595%25D7%2598%25D7%25A0%25D7%2598%25D7%2599%25D7%259D%2529 (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=iw&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fpatent.glazberg.com%2F2012%2F10%2F%25D7%25A4%25D7%25A1%25D7%2599%25D7%25A7%25D7%2594-%25D7%259E%25D7%25A8%25D7%2590%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2590%25D7%2599%25D7%259E%25D7%2592-%25D7%25A4%25D7%25A2%25D7%259C%25D7%2594-%25D7%259C%25D7%2590%25D7%259B%25D7%2599%25D7%25A4%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2596%25D7%259B%25D7%2595%25D7%25AA-%25D7%2599%25D7%2595%25D7%25A6.html%3Futm_source%3Dfeedburner%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_campaign%3DFeed%253A%2Bglazberg%252FEkXd%2B%2528%25D7%25A4%25D7%2599%25D7%2598%25D7%25A4%25D7%2595%25D7%2598%25D7%25A0%25D7%2598%25D7%2599%25D7%259D%2529)
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Google translate - sorry! yet another article on a leading Israeli Internet site. The story is gaining momentum!
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=iw&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mako.co.il%2Fdigital-internet%2FArticle-424a714c1c95a31006.htm%26Partner%3Drss (http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=iw&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mako.co.il%2Fdigital-internet%2FArticle-424a714c1c95a31006.htm%26Partner%3Drss)
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Great News! I agree with Scraggy that he should hold off on the video for now until it is all completely resolved.