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Getty Images Letter Forum / GI Letter and 30 day preview agreement

« on: May 09, 2012, 05:53:34 PM »

I've received my own GI demand letter and I couldn't find anything that references my situation exactly so I thought I would post if for some insight. Last year I decided to launch a website for my 17 year hobby which is now a single member LLC.  As a registered user  of GI you get non-watermarked versions of their catalog they call "Comps" or "Previews" and where you download the comp image there is a smaller print link to review the licensing agreement for "comps" and "previews". In that agreement, it clearly states you are granted a 30 day non-transferable, non-commercial, license. It goes on to indicate that using it over the 30 days you will be invoiced $150 per image. (I'm assuming they came up with that number because the images are lower res than the higher res you would pay for, even in the small format). So I read their agreement, put two of their images into my CMS for sizing and effects testing but after 30 days of that revision took most of the site down for retooling, including the pages they sent me as a screen capture. What Happened?? Apparently, while my Flash admin panel (my site is 100% flash) blocks humans from the pages making them non-public and making me feel I was following their policy... it is not immune to Pic Scout.  Really erks me as an IP creator being accused of the this, but has anybody pushed back on GI because of their comp agreement?

I can tell from the screen shots they sent along with this demand letter it was during the my 30 day window, yet proving that to them is going to be tough because  you don't have a transaction when you download a comp. So as far as they know I had it on the site for years or hours when Pic Scout scanned my site.  What do you think about this "comp" licensing agreement they have and does it apply?
 
Kris