How many infringements is that?

[annalise]

I keep reading the new lawsuits and they claim so many pictures- example 5 pictures are on a website and infringing on copyright.  So if the case went to court, they would seek damages for 5 separate infractions- with the minimum amount being awarded of $200 per infraction, or $1000 assuming everything was in order.

What about one picture being used separately on two different pages of a subdomain (i.e. two separate blogs) of the same domain?  Would that be one infraction or two?

[lucia]

annalise--
INAL, but I suspect your hypothetical has insufficient information to be given an answer.  If they (possibly getty) sue, you'll know who they sued and how many images they sued for when you read the suit. But otherwise, given your hypothetical, you are omitting things like who owns the domains, whether there was a DMAC, whether blogs hosted images or hotlined etc.  If the domain was http://wordpress.com/ and the subdomains blog1.wordpress.com and blog2.wordpress.com, someone like getty would probably send a DMAC request to wordpress.com first. Whether 'they' might have a valid suit against wordpress.com, blog1 or blog 2 would depend on a lot of circumstances.

[SoylentGreen]

My personal opinion is that Getty doesn't send DMCA takedown notifications unless the alleged infringer won't take the images down.
They normally just send a demand for the images considering the amount of usage, and ask you to remove them.
That's because if you comply with a DMCA takedown notice, then they couldn't take you to court if needed; you've done what was asked, and the dispute is over.

The number of infractions depends on how times each image appears on your site.
If the alleged infringement is of a photo of an apple, and the apple appears on three separate times on your site (even on the same page), then that's three infringements.

Sometimes, they'll demand more money for images that appear closer to the top level (home page) of the site.

S.G.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I may be wrong here, but I think if there is a registered agent and that information is clearly available on the site, Getty would HAVE TO by law send the request, then if the image was not removed the registered agent as well as the accused infringer could be held liable...

Another thing with DMCA is that if the domain owner is also the registered agent, they would not be covered by the safe harbor of DCMA if they themselves uploaded copyrighted materials.

[annalise]

But....... if the same photo appears on the same page or same website, AND the copyright registration is a compilation...Then it would be just one infringment.

Also, How do these places work with the photographer.  If I sign and submit a photographer agreement with one of these trollers (for example) ,  and I only submit 3 photos-how would that fair for the rest of my 200 photos I didn't sign for?   The agreement doesn't specifically mention any sort of photos.  Maybe I only submit 3 of my photos to them under the agreement.  Can they then claim that all of my photos are a part of their copyright protected lawsuit-worthy photos since they have a signed agreement with my name as photographer..... In essence, what does a photographer agreement really mean?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

they would not have the other 200 photo's if you only submit 3

If Ihave 10 one hundred dollar bills and I give you one, does that mean you'll have all 10??

I think you're over anal izing this.. is your case for 1 or 2 images?, if so offer them 50.00 per image, admit no guilt, and get on with life. You have a better chance of winning the lottery than them picking your name out of the 1000's of letters they send and  filing suit..they do not sue for 1 or 2 images it's that simple.

You won't outsmart them or out lawyer them on your own, if this is driving you that crazy I suggest hiring oscar for 195.00 and be done with it

[SoylentGreen]

Good advice from Buddhapi, as usual.
Also, I saw what you there... lol.

Yes, I must agree.
I get that this is situation is an outrage to many.  Including myself.
However, when dealing with Getty, one or two infringements isn't such a huge deal.

If we spend too much time "sweating the small stuff", when will we get time to read "The Art of War"?

S.G.