Got the Getty Letter

[soccy]

I got the letter yesterday and it definitely was a shock.

I have a young website and blog on health. Most of my images are from Shutterstock and Flickr with attribution. In January I was featuring a series of guest posts and the Flickr plugin stopped working so I did some searches in Google. I found one that Getty is claiming. It was on another blog so I used it with attribution.

I have since removed it from the post, the site, Google and Pinterest.

So frankly I am in the wrong on this although it was an unintentional mistake. There was no reference to Getty including in the source code for the page.

Anyway, since I am in the wrong, do I need to pay up even though Getty is clearly extorting?

Thanks for your help.

Note: I saw that someone else had checked to see if the image was commonly used so I thought I would try it. It is! Here is the link: https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&q=hamster+wheel&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSYxphCxCo1NgEGgQIAggFDAsQsIynCBo4CjYIARIQ-wT6BO4EgwWABYgFjAWHBRog94wmZFiQhWhzevqGNuqIpcp8mvt2opZMXocuGD-qlbQMCxCOrv4IGgoKCAgBEgRuq4dUDA&ei=-D-uUaH8MJWu4AOZkoFo&ved=0CCgQwg4oAA&biw=1411&bih=682#facrc=_&imgrc=kWCIWjKCS7phAM%3A%3BbMvgIhrKSTveGM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Faspergercafe.files.wordpress.com%252F2012%252F12%252Fhamster-on-treadmill.jpg%253Fw%253D150%2526h%253D93%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Faspergercafe.wordpress.com%252F%3B150%3B94

[stinger]

Step 1:  Educate yourself on this forum.  A good place to start is "An Experiment against Getty".
Step 2:  Don't do anything rash.
Step 3:  Think about your alternatives and decide which is best for you.  Basically, you can a) give in and pay up even though what they are asking is likely far, far more than you could have licensed image for, or b) choose to fight/negotiate.  The statute of limitations is 3 years from the time they discovered the use.  Do you have the stomach to deal with their harassment. or c) Sign up for Oscar's letter program.  It likely costs less than settling with them and you won't have to deal with them for 3 years, or d) Ignore everything they ever send you and hope they don't pursue it because it is only one image. 

Most of us on this board recommend b or c.  But you must decide based on your specific situation and how you feel about the various alternatives.

[soccy]

Thanks, I have started educating myself. I am leaning toward Oscar's program. I am not an attorney. Doing this website has meant that absolutely everything I am doing is new, and although there is no question that I have to become more knowledgeable about copyright issues, having an experienced person(s) handling this would be a good idea. No one can be a master of everything.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

If this was in a blog and you are not making money on this you might want to watch this video where Jonathan Klein says unless you are making money on the images you are free to use them (complete 180 from what Getty actually does) but is  nice to throw back at them.


 

[soccy]

Thanks, Greg, the video was very informative. I have a few Adsense ads and a couple of affiliate ads so technically it is a commercial site, although only marginally.

I have reviewed all my images. There were a couple of others from blogs so I removed any that were not from Shutterstock and flickr with attribution and now those are my only sources.  I will be converting all to paid images just as a form of self protection.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

shutterstock?? I'm assuming you "purchased" these images...attribution alone is not sufficient...and even flickr is not safe now that getty is involved with them, you have no idea which flickr users are allowing getty the rights to their images..

[Oscar Michelen]

What Stinger said.