My company does not exist anymore

[fabio]

I received "the letter" today, and as everyone got frustrated and not sure how to star the fight. I read all morning posts on this extraordinary forum, but I could not find any case similar to mine. I opened a LLC company that I already closed. I also took down the website that contained the claimed picture about three months ago. I call them and explained my case and they agreed to drop the from $1,175 to $940. I still think it is a lot of money for a image that might cost much less. My question is am I still responsible for it even if I received the letter after I have closed my LLC company?

Regards,

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

I am not a lawyer, but my layman's understanding is that this is precisely the advantage of an LLC. In my opinion you need to tell them to buzz off.

The site belonged to a company that is now defunct. That company was responsible for the image, not you. In fact, I think there might be consequences for THEM if they pursue you for something that the corporation did.

I wouldn't even get into a negotiation about price.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Another example of Getty Images shoddy and extortion like scammy practices.

[kmt]

I would just take mcfilms and buddhahapi advice and tell them to buzz off. Reading your situation, I felt that I just had to post mine up. Getting Images tried to bill me for a company that never existed. A couple of years ago I made a website to put on my resume portfolio for graduate school. I did not have enough work experiences for graduate school so my counselor suggested that I created a portfolio.

I used my home phone number and my home address and that’s where they got me. On January they mailed me my first notice claiming my website name as a business name and demanded $900 for 1 picture. Then yesterday I received a 2nd notice. I’m waiting for them to escalate this and see what happen.

[SoylentGreen]

"KMT"'s story is interesting in that Getty's claim is completely contrary to what Getty's CEO Jonathan Klein said in an interview recently.
A direct quote from Klein is "where we do draw the line is when somebody is generating revenue (commercial revenue) on the back of our image".

http://techcrunch.com/2012/03/22/for-pinterest-revenue-will-turn-copyright-questions-into-problems/

So, Getty is a deceptive company.
While they may say verbally that people can use their images non-commercial applications without paying, I'm sure that they don't actually say that in their "terms of use".
Oscar has stated here on the forum that 90 percent of the cases that he deals with are in fact from non-commercial uses.

Getty runs the largest, most expensive and the most sophisticated image recognition/demand-letter program in human history.
However, its CEO has the gall to state "we don't stop consumers playing with our images, we don't stop kids from downloading our images to use in projects or for educational purposes... we don't stop the proliferation of imagery".

I'm quite certain that Getty isn't lying when its top man states that "we don't stop the proliferation of imagery".
In fact, it's in Getty's best (financial) interest that their images "proliferate" via Pinterest or via other conduits.
Because the casual nature of how images are "shared" actually generates copyright infringements.  That's money in the bank for Getty.

S.G.

[Matthew Chan]

If the domain name was in the company's name, then the website was owned by the company. It is pretty much a non-issue but that won't change their perception of you or what they do.

I received "the letter" today, and as everyone got frustrated and not sure how to star the fight. I read all morning posts on this extraordinary forum, but I could not find any case similar to mine. I opened a LLC company that I already closed. I also took down the website that contained the claimed picture about three months ago. I call them and explained my case and they agreed to drop the from $1,175 to $940. I still think it is a lot of money for a image that might cost much less. My question is am I still responsible for it even if I received the letter after I have closed my LLC company?

Regards,

[Matthew Chan]

Why would you want them to escalate this when you can easily handle it now? It will ultimately go to a collection agency or McCormack Legal. Of course, there are ways of handling it once it gets to that level but it is a pain in the butt because there are now MORE players involved. If you squelched the issue now, then at least you covered yourself.

We already know what is going to happen with your non-response. It gets uglier and it doesn't get any easier.

I used my home phone number and my home address and that’s where they got me. On January they mailed me my first notice claiming my website name as a business name and demanded $900 for 1 picture. Then yesterday I received a 2nd notice. I’m waiting for them to escalate this and see what happen.