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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: information to send or not to send
« on: February 05, 2013, 09:32:30 AM »
Thank you for that post Oscar!
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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Is there a definitive IP range for PICSCOUT - i want to kill the spider!
« on: February 01, 2013, 06:17:53 AM »
For your typical small non-retail business, would you really want anything cataloguing your site besides google?
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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Is there a definitive IP range for PICSCOUT - i want to kill the spider!
« on: January 31, 2013, 11:27:55 AM »
This isn't about copyright. These scumbags don’t care about copyright infringement. They're just interested in extorting cash under the guise of copyright infringement.
We stopped buying from them (as I'm sure most others like us have) due to their recent ridiculous cost increases. With this behaviour of theirs, they are not even worth the risk of buying and using their stock photos for any purpose. I don't even feel very safe buying and using pictures from bigstockphoto because of them. I'm encouraging customers to avoid bulk outlets like this as traps, and use custom art from local freelancers.
Artists trying to make a living should take notice.
I digress... would blocking these IPs in .htaccess prevent them from impacting server resources? I assume they would completely ignore robots.txt.
We stopped buying from them (as I'm sure most others like us have) due to their recent ridiculous cost increases. With this behaviour of theirs, they are not even worth the risk of buying and using their stock photos for any purpose. I don't even feel very safe buying and using pictures from bigstockphoto because of them. I'm encouraging customers to avoid bulk outlets like this as traps, and use custom art from local freelancers.
Artists trying to make a living should take notice.
I digress... would blocking these IPs in .htaccess prevent them from impacting server resources? I assume they would completely ignore robots.txt.
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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: information to send or not to send
« on: January 30, 2013, 02:03:44 PM »
I don't trust mine or my friend's ability to respond to Getty appropriately. It is clear this company has no interest at all in whether or not you are guilty. They are just interested in getting money out of you.
I want to utilize that letter defense program but I have questions about it and do not know where to ask. I think I wrote the "scan your stuff and send it here" email address erroneously with questions. Oscar, I understand you have limited attention you can devote to this site so I'm happy if anyone knows the answers to these questions. If this is info better left off of public forums, please delete this straight away. I'll understand and watch for a PM.
If Getty start sending correspondence back requiring additional letters to be written, does that require additional costs? (ie: is it $195/response needed?)
I understand there are no magical "dispel Getty" bullets but of the hundreds of folks who have used the defense letter program is there a percentage of happy endings?
I read through the sticky post about the program, searched the forums for keywords and read those, and watched the video. I appreciate the positive endorsements but I don't have a detailed impression of what the program is (being an IT guy, my first thought was a software program that spit out a letter) after reading, my impression is that one sends their extortion letter to the indicated email and we talk with someone regarding the pertinent details of our particular case, that law office submits a reply to Getty on our behalf and if we ever hear from Getty again it will probably be a ridiculous counter settlement offer any sane "non-sucker" would reject? Is that a realistic understanding?
I want to utilize that letter defense program but I have questions about it and do not know where to ask. I think I wrote the "scan your stuff and send it here" email address erroneously with questions. Oscar, I understand you have limited attention you can devote to this site so I'm happy if anyone knows the answers to these questions. If this is info better left off of public forums, please delete this straight away. I'll understand and watch for a PM.
If Getty start sending correspondence back requiring additional letters to be written, does that require additional costs? (ie: is it $195/response needed?)
I understand there are no magical "dispel Getty" bullets but of the hundreds of folks who have used the defense letter program is there a percentage of happy endings?
I read through the sticky post about the program, searched the forums for keywords and read those, and watched the video. I appreciate the positive endorsements but I don't have a detailed impression of what the program is (being an IT guy, my first thought was a software program that spit out a letter) after reading, my impression is that one sends their extortion letter to the indicated email and we talk with someone regarding the pertinent details of our particular case, that law office submits a reply to Getty on our behalf and if we ever hear from Getty again it will probably be a ridiculous counter settlement offer any sane "non-sucker" would reject? Is that a realistic understanding?
5
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Is there a definitive IP range for PICSCOUT - i want to kill the spider!
« on: January 28, 2013, 09:20:27 PM »
all of these are going into .htaccess
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Getty Images Letter Forum / information to send or not to send
« on: January 28, 2013, 05:35:51 PM »
First, thank you for this site. It is very informative and kept us from making mistakes.
Several years ago we did graphics work for a friends business. In the course of that work, the web designer (freelance, fly by night business) sent us an archive of all of the graphics he did for the website. My friend's business does not thrive, closes up.
A couple of months ago I did a website for that friend (new business) and in seeking relevant pics to decorate with, used a couple of the pics sent by the previous web designer assuming they were all legit and purchased, as I would have done. Plus they had no watermarks so they had to be purchased, right? (sic)
Last week my friend got the letter from getty wanting a ridiculous sum in excess of $2,000 for those images.
After reading this forum and consulting a lawyer friend I would be inclined to ignore these roaches, but I feel responsible for using these pics in the first place. I would like to spare my friend going through the threat letters and NCS, etc... if possible.
So I'm considering writing and just stating they were purchased by a web designer to use on a website and tell them they are in error, question their right to charge for them in the first place, and perhaps offer $8 for what I'd pay for similar photos from bigstock.com.
I'm debating even giving them the name of the designer (who said he had an account with a company getty bought back then.) Reason being, I don't know how he got them. *He* doesn't even remember. I don't think I'm really concerned about arguing innocence since as far as I'm aware the onus is on them to prove guilt, isn't it? What other industry chases you down 5 years later demanding a receipt?
It would be difficult to scrape up enough for Oscar's program, but does anyone know if that might be successful in my particular case, at least to cease the harassment?
I've been reading this site for hours (and have more to go) but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Several years ago we did graphics work for a friends business. In the course of that work, the web designer (freelance, fly by night business) sent us an archive of all of the graphics he did for the website. My friend's business does not thrive, closes up.
A couple of months ago I did a website for that friend (new business) and in seeking relevant pics to decorate with, used a couple of the pics sent by the previous web designer assuming they were all legit and purchased, as I would have done. Plus they had no watermarks so they had to be purchased, right? (sic)
Last week my friend got the letter from getty wanting a ridiculous sum in excess of $2,000 for those images.
After reading this forum and consulting a lawyer friend I would be inclined to ignore these roaches, but I feel responsible for using these pics in the first place. I would like to spare my friend going through the threat letters and NCS, etc... if possible.
So I'm considering writing and just stating they were purchased by a web designer to use on a website and tell them they are in error, question their right to charge for them in the first place, and perhaps offer $8 for what I'd pay for similar photos from bigstock.com.
I'm debating even giving them the name of the designer (who said he had an account with a company getty bought back then.) Reason being, I don't know how he got them. *He* doesn't even remember. I don't think I'm really concerned about arguing innocence since as far as I'm aware the onus is on them to prove guilt, isn't it? What other industry chases you down 5 years later demanding a receipt?
It would be difficult to scrape up enough for Oscar's program, but does anyone know if that might be successful in my particular case, at least to cease the harassment?
I've been reading this site for hours (and have more to go) but any advice would be greatly appreciated.
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