Messages

1

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: So I really Screwed up...

« on: January 21, 2012, 06:55:51 PM »

I hope you are feeling better since the time of your first post. In all honesty, I think every single person on this board has been in the same situation as you.

Please, do not stress yourself into poor health. Getty/Other Stockphoto companies shouldn't have that much power over you or anyone else.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Who owns who in the Stock Photo Industry?

« on: November 13, 2011, 10:57:18 PM »

Here is a list of companies that Getty, Masterfile, Corbis, and other stock companies own.

Getty: iStock, JupiterImages (StockXpert and HAAP Media Ltd), PhotoLibrary, PunchStock, F1online(not sure - can anyone confirm?), Stock.XCHNG

Masterfile: Crestock, SuperStock

Corbis: Veer

Independent (of these Letters)
ShutterStock
Dreamstime    
Fotolia    
CanStockPhoto    
BigStockPhoto
InMagine

Please correct me and add to this list.

Also, am I correct that Getty will send the letter on behalf of all the smaller companies they acquired? Have we seen letters directly from the acquired companies?

3

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: How they find you...

« on: November 13, 2011, 10:13:04 PM »

I wonder to what lengths they would go to for a company that is "untraceable." No address, email, phone. Protected or false Who.is info and is registered and hosted by "shady" providers.

Thanks for time guys.

4

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Hit with the Letter

« on: November 09, 2011, 03:08:34 PM »

I hired Oscar. Thank you to everyone on this forum and especially to Oscar for all of his time through emails/calls. Matt, you are also awesome for starting this community and being SO public about who you are. Buddhapi, well... you basically live here, reply to everything, and continue to fight the good fight- more power to you. Please don't ever stop what you're doing team. I do believe that we shall prevail in this matter (soon)... and I would love to see this board light up in celebration once we do. Seriously, I might just have a drink for that and I don't drink at all. 

I hope the best for all of us and my biggest wish is for these Stock Photo Companies to get slapped so hard that the extortion stops altogether. I don't like bullying and this is exactly that.

5

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: List of Public Domain stock footage companies

« on: November 08, 2011, 10:36:26 AM »

http://Clker.com - For royalty free clipart. WARNING: They claim no warranty to you and content is provided "AS-IS" - Caution when using.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: List of Public Domain stock footage companies

« on: November 08, 2011, 02:44:59 AM »

Sorry to bring up an old post, but a running list that is stickyed might be a good idea. That way, we as a community can keep a running tab on these free stock image companies. It's a scary thought to think that one of these free companies can one day flip the switch on their "cause" or get bought by one of the stock photo giants. It might just be my paranoia, but it could happen.

Another company that might be okay is:
http://photoxpress.com - You get 10 free downloads per day through their free photo collection. Has anyone dealt with them. I've been using them and now am very wary of any photo site.

7

Getty Images Letter Forum / How they find you...

« on: November 08, 2011, 01:06:22 AM »

Humor me guys, I've been thinking a lot about how these companies find the "end" user.

At this point we all know that they are using at least one bot: PicScout. (there might be more, but this is the most well known)

1. The bot crawls the web 24/7
2. It flags images and crawls the entire "infringing site".
(From here... I'm assuming the next steps)
3. The lovely employees of GI (and/or its network of friends) will then look at this site.
4. Someone or something finds out details about the "end" user.
5. The letters are more than likely handled by an automated process and sent off.
6. Some people pay and some play the lovely waiting game.

It's step 4 that I really am curious about. How is it that GI (and friends) find out who/where the end users are?
Yes, most businesses will be easy to find because they list things right on the website. However, some businesses only list a phone number or email. Would GI just call them to try and trackdown where they are? In the case of email, if GI sends the letter through this channel... it doesn't seem like it's all that "official" and wouldn't hold up well in court to sue. Emails can be lost.

Then, there are those who get bullied over their personal blogs. Most of these blogs will never have an address or phone number attached. At most, they might have an email. Once again, if GI contacts over email, that doesn't seem like it's all that "official" and wouldn't be a great leg to stand on for a lawsuit.

But what happens when there is who.is protection on those sites (that don't have attached addresses, phone numbers, or emails)? How far has GI gone to find this information?

I've only found a couple posts on the forums that were about non-business sites, so I can't form much of an opinion on this. Thoughts?

8

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Question regarding the letter process

« on: November 08, 2011, 12:23:17 AM »

Honestly, I'm new to all this too. But have you tried looking at the videos? They are helpful and explain a lot about the letter program.

I say fight the good fight... but not everyone is in the position to do so.

9

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Does copyright infringement have a time limit?

« on: November 08, 2011, 12:20:18 AM »

Exactly my thought process. I can almost kiss you for saying that SoylentGreen.

10

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Does copyright infringement have a time limit?

« on: November 07, 2011, 12:07:08 PM »

This is what I've been trying to research based on the posts on this forum.

Lets assume a site had multiple images on it. The owner gets a C&D letter over 1 image (not all of them) and takes down ALL the images in 2007. At this point, I'd imagine the site owner is being extremely cautious and wants to prevent these other questionable images from harming them. So the flagged site is clean from 2007 forward. From what I can gather, Getty has no legal ground to sue over that 1 image mentioned in their letter from 2007. But, where things seem to get fuzzy are the other images and archives. Could Getty come back and start this whole C&D or sue over those "long gone" images? Their only basis are screenshots of the site's older state (where the images where there in 2007)... but in this example, it's now 4 years since the website owner used those images.

Also, I'm not considering the idea of other companies sending letters as this is a possibility. My main focus is the actions taken from the same company and if they are checking websites based on their current state (not the archives).

Once the 3 years is over, they cannot file suit for the images contained in the original letter. However if there are other images that are not properly licensed, you may get another letter in the future. Say fro example from a different stock image company..

11

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Image Demand For Image Removed Months Ago

« on: November 05, 2011, 06:42:57 PM »

The only use of the archive image at this point would be for them to sue. So if the PicScout bot scans a site today and finds out that 3 years ago (the archived version of) the site had multiple pictures of a stock photo company, could they still claim/sue if the current site doesn't have the images anymore? It's past the 3 years, but the murky part about all of this is that they could claim based on an archive snapshot that the infringement started on the day that they found it. What makes this unfair is that 10 years from now, they can scan every archived image of a site and make a claim based on that even if the image is long gone.

It would be easier to relax about these cases if we knew that these claims are being made based on the current site's state, not how it once was there. If people right their wrongs, they should be able to relax from that point forward, instead of living in "fear" that their once mistake will come back.
 

It is difficult to clear all of the archived versions of your website tho BuddhaPi and other posts on this forum delineate how  to bets do so. Domain Tools has been the new sticking point here because Getty has definitely been using them to locate their images as well. There may be a good argument as to whether an archived version of your site is a "use" of the images.   

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Image Demand For Image Removed Months Ago

« on: November 04, 2011, 11:42:17 AM »

I would like to know this too.

I believe the biggest fear here is that they demand based purely on archived sites. I think most of us would rest easier to know that after X amount of days (since the removal of the offending images) you are then in the clear. I would hate to think that after the removal of the image(s)... 10 years down the road they can still send a demand letter based on an archive page. Or how about even within 2 years down the road so that it fall within the statue of limitations.

Any input here would be nice.

Thanks buddhapi

They definitely use the archive sites to find the exact time an image has been up, but I do feel they don't use
them to trawl and find past infringers. I think the 5 or so months time between catching and sendin the letter is
backlog, checking the archives, confirming domain owner etc.

Thanks a lot for the links. As usual this site is a great resource and the regular contributors efforts don't go unnoticed.

If anybody has received a letter more than 6 months after removing images due to redesign etc., it would be good
to hear from you. It might put a few minds to rest (mine included)

Thanks again

13

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Hit with the Letter

« on: November 03, 2011, 08:03:21 PM »

I think the biggest issue is that the images came from her old partner's site and I can't account for some of the others (considering I use free image sources and that apparently bites a lot of people in the bum). But let's assume the worse situation and say an absurd amount were not her's (for this example I'll say 50). All were thumbnails and low res, would Oscar even take on such a situation?

Also, I think I messed up by offering to pay a relatively high amount. Not sure how this would affect my case if Oscar was to take me on.

14

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Hit with the Letter

« on: November 03, 2011, 06:13:19 PM »

I did. At this point my client isn't willing to fight. My greatest fear is that she will come back in the future with another letter. Even though everything was removed, GI doesn't seem like it thoroughly looks through the site for any other "offending" images before it sends out a letter. This seems like it will follow me for as long as it wants to.  Has anyone gotten more than one letter per site?

15

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Hit with the Letter

« on: November 03, 2011, 02:35:46 PM »

buddhapi - You are pretty much awesome in your timely response.

At this point I an not going to ignore the issue, as it will only cause my client stress.
I will draft some kind of letter for my client and let her send it in. I will try to settle the issue at $250. My guess is that GI will reject that offer. From this point, I would contact Oscar and see what happens over the next 3 years or so. This would just be a limbo period is which no one can really comment on. I've seen others ask and the answer is vague to this. GI will only contact Oscar and if they make an offer or sue, Oscar will inform me.

About Oscar's first letter, if he is to write the letter, should I even draft a letter for my client or let Oscar explain that we had taken the image down immediately (upon receiving the letter).