What is the liability of a new company that got letter intended for old?

[Gmac67fla]

Hello everyone,

I am new to the forum and this is my first time posting. Thank you for this opportunity and medium for sharing my Getty Images related problem. I will try to make my explanation as simple as possible. However, please feel free to ask for clarification should the need arise.

I am currently the owner of an INC in Florida. I registered the INC with the state back in January of 2011. My corporation name was taken from another company's d/b/a that no longer conducts business in the same industry. My INC sells the exact same product, uses their old website and phone number, but is in no way directly affiliated with that other company (a Florida LLC)

The owner of the LLC is someone I know and when they expressed they no longer wished to continue selling their flagship product, I thought it would be a great opportunity to get involved. They willing gave me the ok to sell the product as they wanted nothing more to do with it, as well as, the website they had used to market the product, the phone number and PO Box associated with the company.

This was just after the new year. When checking the PO Box there was a letter addressed to the d/b/a from Getty Images demanding payment for images used on the website. When I inquired to the previous company owner, I was told there was an issue regarding two images used on the website. Once they were notified the images were immediately removed. This was done prior to the end of 2010 and my company taking over the website.

Apparently, Getty Images believes me to be the old company and is demanding payment. There was even a letter and phone call from an attorney representing them. Does my new INC have any liability in this case? Or is this a matter Getty Images needs to take up with the old company (LLC)? Any input would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Interesting scenario!

I would think they would not have a leg to stand on.. I am not an attorney FYI but this is what I would do.

Visit sunbiz.org and get the images form the defunct LLC, these should show the names of the business owners / officers along with dates, then get the images for your current INC, which should also show dates of incorporation and owner/officers. This should be suffiecient to prove that you did not own the company at said time and take you out of the loop. My guess is that Getty's lawyer will not buy into this, at which time you can tell him that you will retain counsel and will also be seeking to be re-imbursed for any legal fees...

That last part may be over the top and please remember i'm not a lawyer..but a case like this might just be what we need in terms of them slipping up..I fairly certain if they were to persue something like this it would not be good for them..

More thoughts on this???