Recieved Letter from getty

[Jerry Witt (mcfilms)]

Lettered, I hear what you are saying. But there are levels of risk and usually if you can show that you licensed the material the copyright holder will pursue the person who sold you the license. I say "usually" because i don't know what Getty images would do. But I do recall that their demand has some verbiage in there requesting you send a receipt if you have one.

There are no guarantees in life. You could ask a friend to snap a picture for you and years later they could decide to pursue an infringement claim (some friend!)

Also there are practical concerns. I live in southern California and if I want to shoot my own picture of a snowman, it's going to cost me a lot.

The other option is to make your web site into an image-free, text-only, 1997-style, AOL-friendly site. As a bonus it will load quickly even on dial up.

[mliggett]

I have decided to go the full route and send Getty a letter with no offer of settlement, but to indicate i am no longer using the image and will not be settling with them based on the lack of information regarding ownership and license of the image.

I will add the other issues brought up in the forum and through ELI as well.

Is there a template on the forum or something that will expedite a letter without having to recreate the wheel we are all creating when we refuse to have Getty do this to us?

[stinger]

Templates are the Getty approach - which sucks.

We recommend you write your own letter.  Each case is somewhat different.  Protest letters to bar associations, Attorney Generals's offices, BBB, etc. are easily recognized as coming from a template.

Take the extra five minutes and tell your story.  Frame it how you wish.  Those who will ultimately judge Getty and McCormack will have no doubt in their mind when they hear the same story told thousands of different ways.

Good luck, and if you would like a second, third and fourth set of eyes on your letter before you send it, publish it here.  You will get good feedback.

[mliggett]

I sent a summary response to the cease and desist part of the letter and asking for the removal of any settlement. I am sure it wil be turned down, but I will go into evidence mode from there. I just wanted to get this into the mail and to Getty in a decent amount of time. From here the clock no longer ticks, it is correspondence and evidence gathering and so forth.

Will keep posted. I expect a response in about 10days

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

The deadlines that Getty tries to impose are artificial and designed to panic you into making paying or making a response before you have time to investigate the claims.  I informed Getty in one of my letters that I reject their deadlines and will take a reasonable amount of time to investigate, research and consult before making a reply.  Don't let them force you into sending anything before you are ready because of these deadlines.

I sent a summary response to the cease and desist part of the letter and asking for the removal of any settlement. I am sure it wil be turned down, but I will go into evidence mode from there. I just wanted to get this into the mail and to Getty in a decent amount of time. From here the clock no longer ticks, it is correspondence and evidence gathering and so forth.

Will keep posted. I expect a response in about 10days

[mliggett]

I will see what their response will be. From there, I will respond with rejection of their timeline and settlement.

Thank you for the comments and tips. Your lengthy process with Getty has been an invaluable learning tool.

[mliggett]

I see there is a ton of documents posted on SCRID. is there a better place to post these, or a place where we can have more open access tot he information? I think if we are serious about Getty and reeling them in, these documents should be more available and easier to handle to upload and if needed download to wage a serious campaign with Attorneys General and others to help end Getty extortion practice.

Thoughts?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I see there is a ton of documents posted on SCRID. is there a better place to post these, or a place where we can have more open access tot he information? I think if we are serious about Getty and reeling them in, these documents should be more available and easier to handle to upload and if needed download to wage a serious campaign with Attorneys General and others to help end Getty extortion practice.

Thoughts?

scribd is the best option, the documents are public, I don't know how much more "open access" there could possibly be... I guess for your own documents you can upload them to where ever you see fit.

[mliggett]

Good deal. Was thinking maybe a free wiki or similar. Makes no difference.

Thank you again

[Oscar Michelen]

Good luck

[mliggett]

Getty sent me their "reminder" letter that I have not paid them yet. However it made no mention of my response letter. I am going to reply with the same requests I made in the original letter, with a copy of the original letter to remind them.

Any suggestions or insight on next steps? I do not want to fall into some sort of trap where a response or non-response is going to be a problem.

As a side note: The letters from Getty are coming standard US Mail. My response has been standard US Mail. Is there any need at this point to start sending certified letters or proof of delivery?

TIA

[DavidVGoliath]

Just to play devils advocate:  You aren't completely safe buying images from anyone.  If you read the contracts on those sites you have to agree to in order to purchase, I think you'll find that they don't take any responsibility for any copyright violation issues that might arise.  What's to keep a copyright troll from seeding on these sites?  What's to keep a thief from selling someone elses images on these sites?  Is anyone in the entire process verifying ownership? Is it feasible or even possible to verify ownership?  Too many questions for me.

Welcome to some of the problems faced by rightsholders trying to do online business. I've had knock-down, drag-out fights with some people whom have laid (false) claim to ownership of my photographs. It can rapidly get very ugly. I even came across one instance whereby a particular jackass tried to offer my work under a creative commons license using their own name etc.

Fortunately, I shoot RAW files which I convert to JPGs for clients, so indisputable proof of ownership will never be an issuel; Simply put, no-one apart from me has access to my original files.

[mliggett]

OK

I replied to Getty's letter reminding me to pay up.

In my reply, I followed their example, almost to the letter with a twist stating that any additional requests will be taken into consideration once they acknowledge or respond to my original letter.

right now, the letters are about 30days in separation, which tells me I am in their CRM system.

No notice about collections or such third party tools to get $ from me. I would expect this in the next letter I receive.

[Oscar Michelen]

Yes , next you will hear from NCS recovery or Tim MCCormack

[mliggett]

It has been a few months and I have not head back from Getty. I am not sure if they have turned my case over or are being held up on other issues before continuing. 

Any breaking news on Getty and the legal systems reeling them in on this scam?