Got a letter, now what???

[meontheweb]

UPDATE: So I sent my letter to them, registered mail this time and no reply via mail -- but get this, e-mail.  Why would ANYONE send something important via e-mail?  How often to e-mail accounts get hacked?  How often do you get SPAM?  How often do you get e-mails from "Nigeria" asking for payment for something?

They keep insisting that an image was found on "your company’s commercial website" - ummm... not a company website, but personal site, and not commercial but hobby.

So do I assume the e-mail is real since there really is no way for me to tell.

It is interesting that the letter is coming from the US and not from Canada -- not sure if Getty Images has a Canadian office or not...

So what is my next step?  Do I reply to the e-mail eventhough I'm not certain it's really them or do I wait for them to send me a letter?

Back to reading... was hoping that I had not heard anything they would roll-over and die, but apparently not.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

if you replied to them via registered mail would not reply via email, let them put some effort in...you could easily change your email address, or simply reject anything from getty and return it to them using a filter...

[meontheweb]

... found this on the web:

Registration, while not necessary, provides certain presumptions that
are useful if the copyright is litigated and prevents any person from
relying on the defence of “innocent infringement” (i.e., where the
infringer did not know and had no reason to suspect that copyright
existed in the work). If there is no registration, an infringer who successfully
proves the defence of innocent infringement could be prohibited
from further copying but would not be liable for damages.

From a PDF from Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

correct, thats why we always ask for proof of registration..we know getty doesn't register their images, and therefore would not be able to collect these big sums..maybe 200.00 if they were lucky...this is all well documented in the forums..

[stinger]

I agree with Robert.  Do not correspond via email and do not take their phone calls.  Your position should be that you want everything on the record.  And make them work harder.  The harder you make them work, the more likely they will bypass you for lower hanging fruit.

[meontheweb]

Thanks for the advice - will wait until they send a letter!  Happy New Year to all.