So I finally received another call from NCS. Their last call was over a month ago and I was not armed with the information that this terrific site has provided (THANK YOU!!). I was polite, and when asked about payment, I requested that they send me proof of registration. The guy tried to bluff through the fact that they had registration, but when I told him that I was currently looking at the Copyright Registration site (copyright.gov) and asked if he could direct me to the copyright registration he backed off and said that they did not need it. I told them that I was willing to wait for a judgment from the courts and that they might want to hurry up because my image was removed almost 2 years ago and that the statute of limitations was running out (3 years). His response was that there is no statute of limitations on copyright infringement. We agreed to disagree on this matter. He then told me that anything that I am reading on the internet is incorrect and that Getty's likely next action is to take all infringers to court simultaneously so that someone like Oscar will not be able to help everyone at once. I refused to give an inch and the called ended when he shouted "infringer" and hung up. It felt like a small victory.
It is becoming so obvious that their mode of operation is to simply create mass fear by any means (blatant lying and false threat of lawsuits) and settle as many as possible. I assume that since this is not an official "debt" collection, that no rules apply to these guys.
I hope that I get put on some sort of "informed person" list and they leave me alone.
Has anyone had any further contact with NCS after letting them know that you are an innocent infringer and that you are informed of your rights and of the ramifications involved with the lack of registration?
It is becoming so obvious that their mode of operation is to simply create mass fear by any means (blatant lying and false threat of lawsuits) and settle as many as possible. I assume that since this is not an official "debt" collection, that no rules apply to these guys.
I hope that I get put on some sort of "informed person" list and they leave me alone.
Has anyone had any further contact with NCS after letting them know that you are an innocent infringer and that you are informed of your rights and of the ramifications involved with the lack of registration?