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Getty Images Letter Forum / Don't Pay Getty - Thank you ELI
« on: August 15, 2012, 01:40:51 PM »
Background
My wife Rachel is a writer and speaker and I maintain her website and act as her technology strategist (in other words I help her out with various tech stuff and occasionally say things like "no, don't post that").
Rachel has always been extremely careful not to use images on her site unless she has permission from the photos' owners, they are properly licensed (such as Creative Commons pictures), public domain, or are reasonably considered fair use (images of books she's reviewing etc.).
Our Getty Story
We received our first letter from Getty on July 9th, 2012 (dated May 31st), they were demanding payment of $780. We didn't respond. We received another one yesterday, August 14th 2012, threatening escalation if we didn't pay them the $780.
Getty sent both of the letters to my wife's event manager, since our physical address is not available on her website. The letters were then forwarded to us.
Observations
I've worked as a professional content creator in Broadcast TV and video production. As a writer, Rachel makes her living because of the protections afforded by copyright law. We're not ones to take issues like this lightly.
In my estimation, Getty has mis-stepped here.
Getty claims Rachel used, without their permission, this picture of Henry David Thoreau in a blog post back in December 2009: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_David_Thoreau.jpg .
According to Getty, they own exclusive rights to this image. According to Wikipedia, the image in question was originally taken in 1856 and is in the public domain.
I don't think Getty has any grounds to accuse us of copyright infringement.
After getting the second letter, I responded to Getty, emphatically denying that we committed any copyright infringement, included the date the image was taken and the name of the photographer (Benjamin D. Maxham, June 1856) and politely requested they remove or discard any digital or printed copies of Rachel's website in their possession, since they do not have our permission to make digital or printed copies of Rachel's logo, content, or website.
Conclusion
My guess is that Getty will ignore me and continue to pursue the issue. If that happens I don't see much of a choice except to retain legal council in order to resolve the matter.
The research and reading has already cost me quite a few hours. The more I learn about Getty's questionable tactics and billing practices, the more frustrated I get. A part of me hopes they will continue to pursue this case. I would be happy to have their practices exposed in court to let a judge decide if what they're doing is legal.
Thank You
I appreciate all the effort that has gone into ELI and just wanted to share our story and say thanks to Matthew, Oscar, and all others responsible for creating and maintaining this site.
Update August 27th, 2012
On August 24th, I received a reply email from Getty. It simply read: "Thank you for your message regarding Case # [my-case-number]. The matter has been resolved and we have closed this case."
My wife Rachel is a writer and speaker and I maintain her website and act as her technology strategist (in other words I help her out with various tech stuff and occasionally say things like "no, don't post that").
Rachel has always been extremely careful not to use images on her site unless she has permission from the photos' owners, they are properly licensed (such as Creative Commons pictures), public domain, or are reasonably considered fair use (images of books she's reviewing etc.).
Our Getty Story
We received our first letter from Getty on July 9th, 2012 (dated May 31st), they were demanding payment of $780. We didn't respond. We received another one yesterday, August 14th 2012, threatening escalation if we didn't pay them the $780.
Getty sent both of the letters to my wife's event manager, since our physical address is not available on her website. The letters were then forwarded to us.
Observations
- They mis-spelled and improperly capitalized her name "Rachel hekd evans" (her name is Rachel Held Evans)
- They included the wrong email address in the demand letter (they included an address that exists for mostly satirical purposes on her contact page.)
- They sent the letter to her booking agent, who does not handle these matters
- They included printed screenshots of her website, including her logo, content, and website design, all of which are protected under the same law they claim we violated.
I've worked as a professional content creator in Broadcast TV and video production. As a writer, Rachel makes her living because of the protections afforded by copyright law. We're not ones to take issues like this lightly.
In my estimation, Getty has mis-stepped here.
Getty claims Rachel used, without their permission, this picture of Henry David Thoreau in a blog post back in December 2009: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Henry_David_Thoreau.jpg .
According to Getty, they own exclusive rights to this image. According to Wikipedia, the image in question was originally taken in 1856 and is in the public domain.
I don't think Getty has any grounds to accuse us of copyright infringement.
After getting the second letter, I responded to Getty, emphatically denying that we committed any copyright infringement, included the date the image was taken and the name of the photographer (Benjamin D. Maxham, June 1856) and politely requested they remove or discard any digital or printed copies of Rachel's website in their possession, since they do not have our permission to make digital or printed copies of Rachel's logo, content, or website.
Conclusion
My guess is that Getty will ignore me and continue to pursue the issue. If that happens I don't see much of a choice except to retain legal council in order to resolve the matter.
The research and reading has already cost me quite a few hours. The more I learn about Getty's questionable tactics and billing practices, the more frustrated I get. A part of me hopes they will continue to pursue this case. I would be happy to have their practices exposed in court to let a judge decide if what they're doing is legal.
Thank You
I appreciate all the effort that has gone into ELI and just wanted to share our story and say thanks to Matthew, Oscar, and all others responsible for creating and maintaining this site.
Update August 27th, 2012
On August 24th, I received a reply email from Getty. It simply read: "Thank you for your message regarding Case # [my-case-number]. The matter has been resolved and we have closed this case."