Messages

1

Getty Images Letter Forum / Masterfile image hot linked

« on: November 19, 2009, 02:58:38 PM »

Hello,

We have a client that had an old website that was developed by one of their members back in mid to late 2000s.  He used a free template and did some modifications. One of the images on a secondary page had a link to an image on another server (no relation to the website or hosted by the same company).  

They replaced this website in the beginning of 2009.  But the old pages were not removed from the site.  Today they received a letter from Masterfile about this image.  (about the size of a large postage stamp.)  Demanding $2000 for the image.  (the only year license for this image is $670.)  This client is a state chapter of a nonprofit association and does not make any revenue from the website.  You have to go through the national to gain membership and there is no advertising on the site.

Now if the image was not hosted on the local site, what is the liability for it (a hot linked image)?  Is that covered under the safe harbor ISP protection because it is not a local image any webservers the client has control over?  

The page that had the link to the image has been removed.  Also the image that they have in their letter is has one more person in it than the image on the website (this person is inside of the other people so not a simple crop off the end.)  And the screen capture they sent you can not see the url of the site that they captured from.

I know my next step is to get a lawyer to write a letter to Masterfile explaining the situation and covering that this association is not for profit, the page that linked to the image was removed and the image was not stored on the site.

So please let me know about the Safe Harbor ISP coverage for a hot linked image.  

Thank you

Edited for spelling and grammatical error 11-19-09

2

Getty Images Letter Forum / Contacting the Photographer Directly?

« on: June 16, 2009, 04:45:24 PM »

Hello,

I searched for this but did not see it.  Yes I received the letter that one image on the main page of my site was infringing on their copyright.  I took it down and completely removed it from the webserver.  The image came from a free mambo template from a website.  The template was copyrighted in 2004  by someone in Mexico (I have found the person's email address and website)  I have contact our attorney and forwarded this site to them. We are waiting to here back. I did the copywright search and it is not listed under the photographers name. He does have a Sailing book.

My questions are

1. Should I try to see if the person in Mexico has proper license for this image?
2. I have found the photographer's website who took the picture.  Should I try and contact the photographer directly and get a license for this picture?  Being a hobby photographer myself I would be open to people contacting me directly if I where on the other side of the coin.

Thanks,

Frazier