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ELI Forums => Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: frazier123 on November 19, 2009, 02:58:38 PM

Title: Masterfile image hot linked
Post by: frazier123 on November 19, 2009, 02:58:38 PM

Hello,

We have a client that had an old website that was developed by one of their members back in mid to late 2000s.  He used a free template and did some modifications. One of the images on a secondary page had a link to an image on another server (no relation to the website or hosted by the same company).  

They replaced this website in the beginning of 2009.  But the old pages were not removed from the site.  Today they received a letter from Masterfile about this image.  (about the size of a large postage stamp.)  Demanding $2000 for the image.  (the only year license for this image is $670.)  This client is a state chapter of a nonprofit association and does not make any revenue from the website.  You have to go through the national to gain membership and there is no advertising on the site.

Now if the image was not hosted on the local site, what is the liability for it (a hot linked image)?  Is that covered under the safe harbor ISP protection because it is not a local image any webservers the client has control over?  

The page that had the link to the image has been removed.  Also the image that they have in their letter is has one more person in it than the image on the website (this person is inside of the other people so not a simple crop off the end.)  And the screen capture they sent you can not see the url of the site that they captured from.

I know my next step is to get a lawyer to write a letter to Masterfile explaining the situation and covering that this association is not for profit, the page that linked to the image was removed and the image was not stored on the site.

So please let me know about the Safe Harbor ISP coverage for a hot linked image.  

Thank you

Edited for spelling and grammatical error 11-19-09

Title: Re: Masterfile image hot linked
Post by: Oscar Michelen on November 19, 2009, 08:08:41 PM

While the DMCA Safe harbor provision is not clear on whether this would apply, I think a good argument can be made for it. You can email me the details at xxx and i will respond on how to retain my firm to handle this for your client  Thanks for the post