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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Copyright Infringement Claim
« on: September 04, 2014, 03:57:14 AM »
Hi there,
We also received a very similar email on July 22/14 and then a letter on Aug11/14 from Design Pics Inc.
However, I just don't think this is legit. Here's what a little digging revealed:
Their email is sent from a Seattle company. Their website CONTACT is located in Edmonton. And the company they want you to pay is yet another name: Picscout Inc.
If you mail a cheque, they want you to mail it to Picscout in Seattle. But if you pay by wire transfer, the bank account address is listed as a PO box in Tampa, FL
For the mailed letter, the return address is in New York, but the prepaid 'stamp' is Wichita, KS.
So WHO is this company and WHERE are they located/registered?? Looks very fishy to me.
This is the email I sent back to them:
*****
Hello,
Perhaps you could first send us proof that you indeed hold the license for this image? This means a copy of your original agreement with the photographer who owns the rights to the image - not a link to a webpage.
We routinely purchase our images from iStock, Shutterstock, Fotalia and Dreamstime - which we have been buying from for about 10 years.
Perhaps we should report you for running a fraudulent scam site? I notice that the cow image in your site header actually belongs to iStockPhoto...
IF you are a legitimate service and you do own the rights to this image, or have SOLE representation of the photographer who supplied the image (as many photographers upload to numerous agencies), I suggest you send me the documentation requested above.
*****
They did not respond to my email. They just sent a similar letter snail-mail a few weeks later.
As someone who has been doing business online since 1995, the "proof" weblinks they send and the Design Pics website could be programmed in a week or so. Get a programmer in India and definitely a con worth running (financially).
Also, I just found this post from Oscar Michelen in another thread:
We have become aware of this new trend - Getty (acting through PicScout which it bought for $20 Million a few years ago) has been sending out these letters for various companies including stockfood.com It really is just a variant of their regular copyright program. All the info on this site that applies to Getty is applicable to this issue.
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/stockfood-com-extortion-letter-getty-images-what-to-do-any-help-apprec-3905/15/
Hope that helps.
We also received a very similar email on July 22/14 and then a letter on Aug11/14 from Design Pics Inc.
However, I just don't think this is legit. Here's what a little digging revealed:
Their email is sent from a Seattle company. Their website CONTACT is located in Edmonton. And the company they want you to pay is yet another name: Picscout Inc.
If you mail a cheque, they want you to mail it to Picscout in Seattle. But if you pay by wire transfer, the bank account address is listed as a PO box in Tampa, FL
For the mailed letter, the return address is in New York, but the prepaid 'stamp' is Wichita, KS.
So WHO is this company and WHERE are they located/registered?? Looks very fishy to me.
This is the email I sent back to them:
*****
Hello,
Perhaps you could first send us proof that you indeed hold the license for this image? This means a copy of your original agreement with the photographer who owns the rights to the image - not a link to a webpage.
We routinely purchase our images from iStock, Shutterstock, Fotalia and Dreamstime - which we have been buying from for about 10 years.
Perhaps we should report you for running a fraudulent scam site? I notice that the cow image in your site header actually belongs to iStockPhoto...
IF you are a legitimate service and you do own the rights to this image, or have SOLE representation of the photographer who supplied the image (as many photographers upload to numerous agencies), I suggest you send me the documentation requested above.
*****
They did not respond to my email. They just sent a similar letter snail-mail a few weeks later.
As someone who has been doing business online since 1995, the "proof" weblinks they send and the Design Pics website could be programmed in a week or so. Get a programmer in India and definitely a con worth running (financially).
Also, I just found this post from Oscar Michelen in another thread:
We have become aware of this new trend - Getty (acting through PicScout which it bought for $20 Million a few years ago) has been sending out these letters for various companies including stockfood.com It really is just a variant of their regular copyright program. All the info on this site that applies to Getty is applicable to this issue.
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/stockfood-com-extortion-letter-getty-images-what-to-do-any-help-apprec-3905/15/
Hope that helps.