New here, received the "famous" letter today!

[BelindaH65]

First, thank God I am not the only one that is getting these letters.....Now I would like to explain my situation.

We are a small business, that recently startend celling a wireless service, on their advertising material and on their website is 1 image that we have used on our small company website, telling people about the wireless service that we provided selling.

We have not even used it for 3 months....today we got the Getty letter and we directly removed the image that Getty says is theirs.

Okay what to do from here, I mean, we were not aware that we could not use those images since we are reselling a product for this wireless company that is all over the US. Since we are reselling their service, would that mean I can not use their images then??

I'm confused, do I need to call Getty this monday and tell them and give them a check for a $100.00 or just keep it all shut and ignore the whole letter? Or if they come after me, tell them I am the reseller of this wireless company that is all over the US and I used their advertising materials for advertising that I am a re-seller for them???

Thanks for all the input in advance!

Belinda

[Oscar Michelen]

Dear Belinda:

I suggest you review the summary that is on the forum to gain some info on your options from here.  Your situation with your carrier is similar to many clients we are dealing with who used promo materials from national real estate companies and got the Getty letter.

[BelindaH65]

Dear Oscar,

I read the "Summary of Getty Issue in the United States". I will send them a letter tomorrow asking for proof of the image being registered. In the mean while can you tell me some more about the promo materials that the real estate companies used and how that is being aproached? I mean if I am a reseller for this nationwide carrier, why could I not use the image???

I did read the post about Century21, I will call the carrier and ask them if they can find out if the image is "paid" for, now if that is the case, then I should be able to use it, is that okay to assume that???

I am also thinking of hiring your services to let you write the next letter if it is getting tricky...For right now I am trying to find out if the wireless carrier has paid for this image, and if this is the case then I should be entitled to use the image is what I am thinking

Thank you so very much for all the information provided here!!

Belinda

[Oscar Michelen]

Yes, your next step should be to notify the carrier and let them know of the situation and ask for any proof they may have over the image's origin. Whether it was legally OK for you to use the image will depend on how and when the image was acquired by the carrier. Keep me posted on what the carriier's response is.  If Getty responds, let me know as well.  Good Luck.