Famous letter in.... the Netherlands!

[dutchnaomi]

Hi guys,

Still no news here as well...

Naomi

[Oscar Michelen]

Thanks gang - No news is good news

[johnboy12]

Sorry all, seems I am a little behind.

Another update.... nothing to update :-)

If anything does show up, I will of course post, other than that, I'll update again in 3 months time..

[Oscar Michelen]

Thanks gang - No news is good news !

[slim&smart]

Hello,

Last week I also received a letter for the use of one image, costing € 455 incl VAT.
Since I was not aware of using this image at all I wrote a letter telling them that I was convinced not being guilty.

Today I received 2 emails, 1 containing the link of my webpage where I am using the image and 1 where they offer me a discount of 20% when I pay before the end of july, still an amount of € 380 excl VAT. And I have to remove the image immediately.
I run a little homebased company in the Netherlands and this is a lot of money for me. Years ago, someone developped my website. However I cannot hold him responsible.

I wonder what I should do now, cause I already responded once.

Somebody any advice?

Annelies

[Oscar Michelen]

I don't know any lawyer in the Netherlands who I can refer you to but I can also state that I believe Getty has not filed any lawsuits there either.  I would wait to see what they do next, but I would immediately take the images down.

[Jz]

Well, here´s another ´victim´.

About 4 years ago, I built a website for a client, a small beauty salon. I was 15 years old at the time (any chance this could help my case?), and just starting out building websites for clients. Someone told me that Royalty Free images were actually free, which I naively assumed to be true, and resulted in Me using Getty Images regularly. For the website of my client I used one picture from Getty on the front page.

A few days ago I received an email from this quite distressed client, reporting that she had received a €544 ($700) bill from Getty Images. This was actually the second email I received from a client, but since the first client had put up the image herself, I feel more responsible for the beauty salon case.

The picture was, of course, immeadiately removed from the website, but seeing from the many examples, this will have no effect.

I have advised the client to ignore the letter for now, as I am researching the possibilities. I am hoping to find something in the Dutch law similar to the 'innocent infringment', which is present in the UK law. Doudl: have you already contacted Getty demanding a dutch letter? If so, have they reacted?

From what I have read, it seems the best to wait. Are there any dutch people who have received notice from Getty Images after the second letter? I do not expect a lawsuit, but I wouldn't want my client to be bothered by collection agencies or anything similar.

I will keep you up to date, and any advice is very welcome.

[Oscar Michelen]

UK copyright law does have protection for innocent infringers. In fact, in cases of innocent infringers UK law allows for no damages to be awarded.  Getty has filed some lawsuits in the UK (see posts here about it) but its not clear that the defendants in those suits retained lawyers and fought the case or whether they merely defaulted.

[Jz]

I was actually talking about a similar phrase in the dutch law, I edited my post to be more clear. Haven't had any luck finding anything similar yet.

[Oscar Michelen]

Don't  know anything about Dutch copyright law but innocence as a mitigation to a damages claim just makes common sense so hopefully there is some section in the law that  follows that logic.

[Peter]

Hi there,

We are a small Dutch company and have also received the letters. The first one in May. The second one in July. It concerned 9 images in total. These were published on 2 different websites (2 URL's) of our company. Website 1 is our website in the Dutch language. Website 2 is a translation of our website in German.

The websites have been active for almost a year. After receiving the letters we have removed all the images. We have sent their Amsterdam and London based branches an e-mail in which we state that we were not aware of the fact that there were copyrights on these images which had to be paid for.

Getty claims an amount of money for each website:
- Site 1: More than € 8000,-- for  9 pictures (.nl)
- Site 2: More than € 3000,-- for 7 pictures (.de)

Although the images for 'site 2' are similar to the images used for 'site 1', the amount charged for the same image differs. For 'site1' (.nl) they claim € 925,-- per image. For 'site 2' (.de) they claim € 450,-- per image.

What do you people think is the best way to handle this case? Ignore them?

Please advise.

[Oscar Michelen]

It's hard to say Peter, but looking at the posts under this topic, it appears that most folks in your country have been waiting to see what Getty's next step will be. I have received no information of any lawsuits having been filed there so I think it might be best for you to hold tight and at the same time try to see if you can find a reliable copyright lawyer who will give you a free consultation.

[johnboy12]

I will make this the last of my quarterly report backs unless something different happens going forward.

There is still nothing to report.

To summerise we received a demand letter over a year and a half ago for one image for €1000. We did not reply and received a second letter a few months later. Again, we did not reply and that has been that. Nothing further has been received.

If I do hear anything, of course I will make a post here. I will also keep abreast of matters here and wish one and all success against these extortionists!

thanks
John

[Oscar Michelen]

Dear Johnboy:

Thank you so much for your diligence in letting us know what was happening in your case.  Many folks from your country have contacted me and I direct them to this post to read about your experience so you have helped many people learn more about the situation in the Netherlands.   Thanks again, and no news is good news!

[Peter]

Yesterday we have received a letter from a Dutch lawyer called van der Steenhoven. They write that they act on behalf of Getty Images.
Within 5 days we have to state that we have stopped publishing the images. Furthermore they want us to pay an amount of more than € 20.000,-- for use of the images, interest, not mentioning the name of Getty with the images, and other costs.

Actually we have stopped publishing the images right after we have received a first letter from Getty Images which was about a year ago.

Do you have any advise how to deal with this?