Well I got my letter on March 26, 2012.
I had hired a guy who claimed to know how to put together websites. We made an agreement to barter for services. He put together a basic website with an image he chose and said it came from a "free image site". He notified me as of 6/1/11 that my website was up.
I have NO understanding of how to do this. It seemed a good way to help someone and get some help. There was NO formal agreement between myself and this third party, just a "gentlemen's agreement".
Now Getty says that I'm responsible for some $875.00 for the use of "an image represented by Getty Images". And my "website designer" has essentially bailed on me and said he's not responsible. I had NOT yet even approached him about helping out with the demand. I only asked if he had checked on the image before he used it. Apparently that upset him. Anyway, I'm on my own here with absolutely no knowledge of how any of this works. I asked him to remove the image and he took down the whole site. I won't let him back on at this point since, as you could imagine, things are not to good between us.
I have spent parts of several days researching this site and listening to the audio/video's, and I'm not done. By the time this is posted I'll have made a donation.
My 14 day deadline is this Thursday and I need to know should I just send them a certified letter explaining the mistake and that the site was taken down as soon as the potential problem was brought to my attention? Or, can I just give the explanation and then ask them to give me the particulars (proof of copyright, date of infringement, etc.) on the first correspondence? In other words, is there a reason to split this step up. Looks like others are just notifying them of removal and explaining their positions and then waiting to see if they respond before asking for the particulars. Is there a reason for 2 different steps?
How anxious should I be about getting back to them before the 14th day? Should the certified letter reach them by then or is that an arbitrary deadline to get you to act impulsively?
When I google the "title" of the image that was used, it only goes to Getty. Once there, I try to punch in the parameters of the use for image to get an idea of what they would charge to acquire the right to use, and the amount is just under their demand. But I search through their site and find similar images and see they go from $15-40 each. Now these other images are NOT from the same collection. Other sites have similar images ranging from 19-50.
The one that was used for my site was from the Stone Collection, and interestingly any similar images from the stone collection that Getty has, weigh in at about 500-810 per image, depending on parameters of use. I have a theory that I believe coincides with a thought another poster on this site by the name of "buddhapi"(I think?) put out as a possibility. That they wait until there is a good amount of "use" of a particular collection, then go to that collection and in my theory, jack the price just before they send out a new wave of notices. That way no one can use the argument of how little they actually cost and show they are being unreasonable in their demand. In fact it would probably make them look real good since their demand is not that much higher than if you had acquired the rights "correctly". They would appear to be very forgiving by NOT setting the demand so high and putting them in a favorable light should they ever have to go to court. On the other hand, given my current state of distrust, I may be seeing conspiracy all over the place that's not really there.
Also, with regards to the third party who did my website described above, would I have any legal position to ask for reimbursement for the damages, if any, if I have to pay?
Anyway those are my questions so far. Any feedback is appreciated. Thank You for the time and all this info? If nothing else, it has helped give me direction and kept me calm by giving me something to focus on. Even if I do get hit with paying their overpriced demand, at least I can feel good about trying to fight back. Thank you for the empowerment.
Thanx.
Topic: My Story (Read 26603 times)