Getty Images Letter - Canadian website

[FlabberghastedCanada]

I received a letter from Getty Images on December 16th, 2011 for a single image in the amount of 1130.00 USD. It is on our business website - and was purchased as part of a template in 2005 but only been in use on the website for 1 year. the complete image was NOT included in the template when it was purchased. I have since removed the image from the site.

the image is now listed on their site at $10 royalty free for commerial use. i am confused how they came up with such a large "settlement".

i have done some research and I was directed to this information

...that the DMCA section 512 which gives safe harbor to those who purchased previously unlicensed images...

The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (c. 48)
"97.—(1) Where in an action for infringement of copyright it is shown that at the time of the infringement the defendant did not know, and had no reason to believe, that copyright subsisted in the work to which the action relates, the plaintiff is not entitled to damages against him, but without prejudice to any other remedy."

"It is an offence under Section 40 of the Administration of Justice Act 1970 and Section 1 of the Malicious Communications Act 1988 to harass of debtors with a view to obtaining payment including the issue of letters which convey a threat or false information with intent to cause distress or anxiety." 

is ths information valid to canadians? and how do i proceed from here? should i write them a letter?

[SoylentGreen]

The DMCA is a US law, not valid in Canada.
Canada doesn't have a "DMCA"-type law as yet.
Although it's in the works.

S.G.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Not to mention you would need to have a registered agent, and the proper information clearly and readily available on your site, which most don't..

If you purchased the template from template monster, they settled a suit with Getty and if you can provide an invoice, or records that you purchased from TM, that should end it..

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

Although if they are now offering it for sale on their site, I would point this out to them and offer to pay the $10. In my humble opinion no judge in the world would ding you for over $1000 on an image they are now selling for $10. (P.S. - Screenshots and records of everything are a great idea at this point.)

[FlabberghastedCanada]

i dont know if i still have an invoice from template monster. i will look.

if i can find it - should i simply email them a digital copy? plus the screenshots of the image with the royalty free for commercial use & sale price?

is there another resource for canadian laws that are similar or the same as these?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

template monster should have a record of the purchase, I would contact them directly and let them deal with it.

[SoylentGreen]

Regrettably, Canada doesn't have an analogy to the DMCA law of the US.
If Government of Canada's Copyright Modernization Act under the new designation of Bill C-11 goes through, then Canada might have something similar to the DMCA.

The original poster mentioned that the image in question wasn't a part of the template that he/she bought.
If so, it's not worth the effort to send over the details of the template as a potential defense.

It was also mentioned that the image is royalty-free and inexpensive.
That means that it's not "rights-managed" and therefore it's reasonable to expect that Getty wouldn't have this image registered properly in Canada of the US.
In addition to this, this is only a single image; it's very doubtful that Getty would take this past the "threatening letter" stage...
What do Buddhapi and McFilms think of these points?

S.G.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I read it as that only part of the image was included in the template, and thats the part picscout picked-up on, and Getty along with the screenshot sent a reference to the entire image.. I agree it's probably a royalty free image and not registered, they will likely not follow suit over 1 image, whoever if it template monster, they they are the responsible party and although it may not be worth it to send it to them, it might be a way to make it go away..as we all know GI will continue to pester the end user..

[FlabberghastedCanada]

the person who originally purchased the template from template monster did so in their own name and not in our company name. also they are not associated with our business at all nor am i able to make contact with them.

should i just purchase another copy of the template in my company name and send GI the transaction ID and explain the situation?

this has to happen all the time.


does someone have a person i should directly contact at GI or templat monster regarding this?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Purchasing another of the same template will not help you, as they will be looking at the date of purchase. GI won't care if someone else bought the template, they only go after the end user. As stated previously they most likely will not file suit over 1 image, and anybody you contact at Getty will only read the corporate line, they are a bunch of college kids and have a premade script to read from  / memorize.. You could try to contact TM, but since you did not purchase it, they won't be of much help either...sorry to say

[FlabberghastedCanada]

I purchased another template just to be safe - maybe i can speak to someone? another thread suggested this person

Dave Wojtczak
Manager, Copyright Compliance
Getty Images david.wojtczak@gettyimages.com Getty Images Headquarters
601 North 34th Street
Seattle, WA 98103 USA
Phone: 1.206.925.6796
Fax: 1.206.925.5001
 

i have the invoice from 2005 with the original purchaser with the info about the template including all the files included in the $49 purchase (fyi i paid double the actual purchase price on TM). it doesnt include any other information such as transaction ID or order number.

should i bother contacting them again or just leave it?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Chances are you'll never get a manager on the phone, if you have the invoice from 05 with the template in question, this should be sufficient, as the suit they settled was after that.

[FlabberghastedCanada]

should i just email that david then with a digital copy of the invoice with the template #, my current transaction ID from template monster and my case?

i'm sorry to be such a pain - it's hard not to panic about this when we are such a small business.

[SoylentGreen]

We know that you're new to all this.

Since Getty has accused you of infringement on your site, you would need proof that you bought the template containing the infringing image prior to the infringement.
Template Monster will check as to when you purchased the product before settling with Getty, you see.

If you'd like to find out more about Template Monster issues on this site, go to google and type:
site:extortionletterinfo.com template monster

I usually don't recommend starting a dialog with the likes of Getty unless:
1) you actually need some clarification of their claims (they usually won't send you any proof of their claims, though).
2) You intend to pay them a settlement (go as low as you can, but they don't budge much).
3) You have a legitimate, solid defense (they'll keep bugging you even if you're innocent, by the way).

S.G.