Got my letter and now one from an attorney! Bad advise from local attorney?

[Winterseason501]

I started a small business this spring and a web site (built by me) to go along with my new venture. I used 2 images from Google images as a sort of icon representing that particular category on my site. Since these images didn't have any type of watermark and I wasn't profiting from them I didn't think I was doing anything wrong.  Never would I want to do anything illegal and never would have knowingly.  I immediately took down any photos that I haven't take myself.
I received my letter 2 months ago and my story seems to be the same as most on the forum. In my case I did speak to a local attorney through a paralegal friend that advised to hold off and see how it plays out. He didn't think Getty would spend the money to sue over using 2 images. I took this advise thinking the same.
Yesterday I received a letter from attorney Thomas McCormack, sent on behalf of Getty, asking me to pay even more than the enormous amount they were asking for to begin with. Their tactics are scaring the heck out of me! 
I really would like this to go away but I am unsure how to proceed. It seems like contacting Getty and offering a fair settlement hasn't worked for anyone.  I have to admit though I am a little leery of paying for a letter from an online unknown source. Also, I admit didn't want to have to dig into my piggy bank being my business is in the red as this point in my little start up but soon I won't want to open the mailbox!
Are there initial steps I should be taking?  I don't want to keep looking over my shoulder for the next letter telling me I am being sued in federal court!  I want to do the right thing not only to benefit my small business but to clear up this gross misunderstanding.

[Mulligan]

First off, tell those fools you don't discuss legal matters in email and that you want a paper record should this business have to go to court. So if they have something to say to you, send it by postal mail. Stay off the phone too. Give them as little as possible to twist and distort because, believe me, they're masters at twisting and distorting. Almost as good as Miley Cyrus. But I digress.

Back to the matter at hand... many folks on this forum have received multiple form letters from Timothy McCormack's collection agency law office. If you read through the various topics, you'll learn that in all instances to date that have been discussed here the letters have been bluff and bluster designed to scare the shit (and $$$) out of people.

Personally, I replied to McCormack's initial letter by requesting proof of his right to demand three times the amount Getty wanted. His office refused to provide proof but did offer me a payment plan (for a generous additional $300 to "process").

I wrote back and said "So sorry. No proof, no money. Issue closed. You won't hear from me again."

I ignored another two letters or maybe it was three (old memory fading on this) from his office before eventually receiving a "last chance" letter, details of which you can read about in this topic:

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/mccormack-office-is-in-potential-trouble-again-over-%27last-chance%27-letter/

Hopefully, you'll feel more at ease after reading the above link.

On another note, I think your lawyer gave you good advice, though a lot of local lawyers do not, instead saying you should go ahead and pay. These chaps are either ignorant or, to make a mean generalization (sorry Oscar), just looking out for a fellow shyster's easy buck.

(While I'm ranting, as an editorial aside, other than corporate CEO's, many surgeons, and Brangelina what members of other professions can charge $995 or more an hour and get away with it for shuffling paper (electrons in the case of those lawyers and judges who are finally computer literate) while arguing contradictory laws passed by a government legislated for the most part by thieves and scoundrels who have won their jobs because of "contributions" from corporations and the big wigs who make tens and even hundreds of millions of dollars a year while so many of the rest of us work our asses off for an hourly wage that might possibly stop Miley Cyrus cold in the middle of a twerk if she heard what we were earning?) 

In closing, where I live and where a lot of forum members live, we don't pay unless we're either shown proof of a right to demand money or else have the barrel end of a shotgun in our face with a mafioso type's finger tightening on the trigger on the other end.

And even in the latter case, a few of us might tell the bandit with the gun (or the collection agent lawyer with fancy legal letterhead which doesn't mean jack but sure scares the crap out of a lot of people) to go fish because we don't put up with extortion as a pure matter of principle.

There, I'm happy I got that off my chest.

Now, where's my inhaler? I get such asthma attacks visualizing Miley Cyrus in the middle of a twerk. It truly is tough to get this old... sigh.

[Winterseason501]

Thanks for the response and comic relief!  Needed that!  I was just about in tears over this. So glad I found this forum.
Do most send in some type of correspondence asking for proof on the copyright info or for an explanation on reasons why they have an up charge or possibly offer a settlement?  If for nothing else other than to have some type of paper trail if needed down the road.

[Oscar Michelen]

Tim McCormack is just the next step on the Getty dance card. Do not communicate with him he will not stop writing you back and largely ignoring the positions you take in your letters anyway.  "So sorry. No proof, no money. Issue closed. You won't hear from me again." That is exactly the position you need to stand behind and once you told them that why tell it to them again?