Getty Demand in Australia

[awaldo]

Firstly I would like to extend my thanks to both Oscar and Matthew for providing this information. It has been of great help. I too have recently gotten myself in the middle of a Getty Letter for $4000 (since Dec) and am deciding on where to go next.

I am a designer who, whilst as a design student and with inexperience, designed a website in early 2006 for a colleague using a number of images from Microsoft's "Free" clipart website. My colleague has been issued with The Letter.

I was completely unaware and uninformed during the process of downloading the images from Microsoft's website that they in fact belonged to Getty (they are actually owned by Getty's smaller company iStockPhoto). Microsoft did not make this clear and I only recently found out that they still only state, right before downloading, that the user cannot use Microsoft's services for business - no mention of Getty/iStock.

Although it is my colleague who is being attacked, I took action by seeking a copyright lawyer who replied back to Getty with references stating that there are, in fact sections, within the Copyright Act that give "allowances" for innocent infringement.

I had several replies back from Getty - all text book responses, stating their position remains unchanged and that, "Without Prejudice... As you know, our claim is against the website owner and your client has the option, but not the legal obligation, to settle this matter on (the colleagues) behalf. Due to the fact that Getty Images does not have a claim against your client, if they are unable or unwilling to settle this matter on (colleague's) behalf, Getty Images will resume direct pursuit of settlement of the end user of the imagery."

My lawyer (who I can't afford anymore) suggested to ignore their demands. I want to do the right thing by my colleague however I can't afford to have them come back at me as I am already in financial troubles. I am actually surprised that Getty have not taken this further after 4 months and are still offering a wavered fee of $3000. They are obviously just trying to get a settlement.

[Oscar Michelen]

Dear awaldo:

Thanks for the post. We have been contacted by many Australian companies over this issue, but haven't been able to get directly involved because of course I cannot represent a company in Australia.  Companies that are in countries that follow UK copyright law are more protected than thoise here in the States. That may explain why while Getty has filed a dozen or so lawsuits in the US,  to my knowledge they have never filed any in Australia. The only danger of ignoring it is if Getty continues to pursue your customer, the customer may make an unreasonable  settlement and then look to tyou for reimbursement. I suggest trying to get your colleauge to pay for your lawyer to write one more letter - saying that the lawyer (or you) are authorized to represent the customer and then the customer should be left alone. While most lawyers would be reluctant to tell a client to "ignore" a legal matter, in this case, it is not likely that Getty will sue you over a few images when you have proof of innocent infringement. I think it would be prudent to wait to see if suit is filed before engaging Gettty any further once the client issue has been resolved.