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Letter from Getty's solicitors re. Getty settlement demand (London, uk)

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ian wylde:
Hi,
I received a Getty demand on 11-08-2011, for my business Delta Tech Fire Services.  They are demanding £800.00 (approx $1600.00) + Irish VAT tax, for one picture my webdesigner used from google pictures in 2008. they claim 'Unauthorized Use of Getty Images' - I did not to respond to this letter
I received a second letter on 19-10-2011 demanding settlement again. I emailed Getty asking for proof of copyright, I enclose there response below:

"Dear Mr Wylde
Thank you for taking the time to this matter.
Getty Images has contracts with its contributing photographers who are the copyright holders. The contributor agreement contains representations and warranties that the contributor is the sole copyright owner. Due to confidentiality concerns, Getty Images would not provide copies of our contributor contracts at this stage of a claim. However,  the image details can be viewed at http://www.gettyimages.com/Creative. Simply enter the corresponding image number (ba60343) into the search box.  The use of an image such as this would have required permission from the copyright owner. 
In the absence of proof of a valid license obtained prior to use, this remains an unauthorised use and will be pursued.
Please note that we are going to escalate this case to our legal representatives if payment is not received by 31 JAN 2012."


I again chose not to respond as I feel that what they are doing is totally wrong.  On 12-03-2012 I received a letter from 'Simons Muirhead & Burton' (SMB), solicitors in London.  SMB state they have now been instructed by Getty to pursue the claim, they have mentioned the word 'Court' in the letter and the settlement amount is now £1,200.00 (approx $2,400.00) + Irish VAT - Why on earth are they charging Irish VAT in a United Kingdom case?

I have read ELI forums and searched on Google for info.  Im considering writing to Getty's solicitors, but hoped to get advice first.

I find what they are doing disgusting, our business a very small family operated fire protection business and this is causing stress.  It seems that ELI deal with US claims but hopefully someone can give me some good advice for my case?

Regards
Ian

ian wylde:
Just been looking through previous messages on forums.. I should have done that before, going to try to get more info on previous messages - just time at work is tight!!

Nodge:
Hi Ian,
Just to let you know that I'm in a similar position to yourself. I'm a sole trader working from home. So far I have just received the first letter from Getty demanding £1000 + £230 VAT. Although this site is US based I'm sure that most of the advice on here relates to the UK as well. As far as I can see, the crux of the matter is that Getty do not provide proof that they either own the copyright or have the right to manage it on behalf of the owner. They say this will be made available when the case goes to court. You should know that they have never taken anyone in the UK to court (except for one case which I believe had special circumstances). I believe it is a reasonable argument to say that you won't be discussing payments until they can prove to your satisfaction that they have a legitimate claim by providing the proof that you have asked for. You may feel that it might cover your back somewhat to make a much reduced "without prejudice" offer. Then if it ever did go to court you could show that you were being reasonable throughout and had a least made an effort to settle the dispute.
John

ian wylde:
Thanks for your reply John,
I will seriously consider making a reduced offer, just concerend that could show guilt of somekind.

I have drafted a letter to send to SMB, looking to send it very soon.
Maybe I should have contacted Getty earlier, but, there communications do not encourage it.

Couch_Potato:
Good luck whatever route you take.

In answer to your question about VAT, it's an EU rule that sales by a company to an individual resident in the EU must be charged VAT at the rate of the country the company is registered in.

Getty are registered in Ireland (for obvious tax advantageous reasons) and the VAT rate there is 21% (or it was when I last checked).

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