1291
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 19, 2012, 08:26:54 PM »
Thank you!
"Gutta cavat lapidem, non vi sed saepe cadendo"
Khan
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1292
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 19, 2012, 12:34:15 PM »
Absolutely! My goal is to get as many people as possible to join in on the letter writing campaign. Thanks!
Greg, you inspire me. It's time to get started writing some letters of my own. Is it ok if I post them in your thread?
1293
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 18, 2012, 11:21:08 PM »
Thank you Ms. Peeved! 
Lol..totally awesome Greg!
BRAVA!
1294
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Masterfile's Copyright Registration Method Held Invalid by California Court
« on: July 18, 2012, 11:13:22 PM »
Jstar, first off let me welcome you to the forums and I think you are doing the right thing by continuing to read up in the forums as there is a wealth of information contained in them. As far as the recent court ruling pertaining to master file it certainly will make it harder for them to pursue legal actions against their letter recipients providing the image in question is part of a bulk or series registration.
I think your first step should be attempting to find out if the image in question masterfile has sent you a letter over is registered with the copyright office as a single image, a series of images or registered at all. If you can find out this information that will help guide you in your next steps. If it is registered as a series or group of images they will have a very hard time pursuing legal action against you. Regardless of how the image is registered they can still harass you through letters, NCS and attorneys letters.
You also need to decide the level of involvement you are willing to put into this. You can read and study the forms and educate yourself and deal with them directly or if you feel you need more information and advice than what can be gleaned here on the form I suggested Eli support phone call with Matthew Chan, this maybe had for a minimum $50 donation to Eli. As every situation is different and unique, Matthew can offer insight and suggestions to your situation. The other option is if you just want it to be handled and not hear from them anymore would be using Oscar's defense letter program, you can read about both at the following link:
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/getting-help-with-your-extortion-letter/
I myself have chosen the route of fighting Getty on my own, while I have consulted with and retained a local IP attorney about my case I have him there mainly for backup in case Getty should be foolhardy enough to attempt to take me to court. If you should decide to fight this on your own I recommend planning out how you'll respond to each step of the process and having a plan ready to go and being prepared so you know exactly what you will do at each stage.
Keep reading and educating yourself, ask questions of the form and keep us posted on what you decide to do.
I think your first step should be attempting to find out if the image in question masterfile has sent you a letter over is registered with the copyright office as a single image, a series of images or registered at all. If you can find out this information that will help guide you in your next steps. If it is registered as a series or group of images they will have a very hard time pursuing legal action against you. Regardless of how the image is registered they can still harass you through letters, NCS and attorneys letters.
You also need to decide the level of involvement you are willing to put into this. You can read and study the forms and educate yourself and deal with them directly or if you feel you need more information and advice than what can be gleaned here on the form I suggested Eli support phone call with Matthew Chan, this maybe had for a minimum $50 donation to Eli. As every situation is different and unique, Matthew can offer insight and suggestions to your situation. The other option is if you just want it to be handled and not hear from them anymore would be using Oscar's defense letter program, you can read about both at the following link:
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/getting-help-with-your-extortion-letter/
I myself have chosen the route of fighting Getty on my own, while I have consulted with and retained a local IP attorney about my case I have him there mainly for backup in case Getty should be foolhardy enough to attempt to take me to court. If you should decide to fight this on your own I recommend planning out how you'll respond to each step of the process and having a plan ready to go and being prepared so you know exactly what you will do at each stage.
Keep reading and educating yourself, ask questions of the form and keep us posted on what you decide to do.
1295
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 18, 2012, 10:39:10 PM »
Round one is ready to go out in the morning, I couldn't fit them all in the photo 
.
http://i45.tinypic.com/ivixx3.jpg
.http://i45.tinypic.com/ivixx3.jpg
1296
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 18, 2012, 09:24:46 PM »
Jerry, really?!? Me share this with the ELI community! 
I am a man of my word though and I would not have sent out the letters, but would have shared my results and encouraged others.
I realize the situation I was putting Getty in but hope to encourage a favorable outcome by sending the letter to my personal copyright compliance specialist and naming him personally along with Getty Images in my complaints. I am quite comfortable in making it personal as he is an active participant in his company's business model and the "I was just following orders" or "I was just doing my job"in my opinion holds no weight. I am a remodeler and a handyman if a customer were to ask me to make a substandard and/or unsafe repair I would refuse. Not one person in their right mind would excuse me if something happened and I said I was just following the customer's request. So every complaint letter that I write I will be naming Mr. Bieker along with the company he works for and exposing their business practices.
I am a man of my word though and I would not have sent out the letters, but would have shared my results and encouraged others.
I realize the situation I was putting Getty in but hope to encourage a favorable outcome by sending the letter to my personal copyright compliance specialist and naming him personally along with Getty Images in my complaints. I am quite comfortable in making it personal as he is an active participant in his company's business model and the "I was just following orders" or "I was just doing my job"in my opinion holds no weight. I am a remodeler and a handyman if a customer were to ask me to make a substandard and/or unsafe repair I would refuse. Not one person in their right mind would excuse me if something happened and I said I was just following the customer's request. So every complaint letter that I write I will be naming Mr. Bieker along with the company he works for and exposing their business practices.
Nice. I love it when troll letter recipients bite back.
'Course GI is in a no-win situation. If they comply and send you an official notice releasing you of any liability, they risk you sharing that success story with the rest of the community. If they stay the course, it is clear that you will make it your personal mission to "out" their practices. But meanwhile I'm sure you will encourage many others to follow this path. So this could spawn dozens or hundreds of other complaint.
Poor, poor GI.
1297
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 18, 2012, 08:07:40 PM »
The Article you suggest to me looks great on what I have read so far, it is around 54 pages and I did not have time to digest it and work it in to this round of letters. It will be included in round two for sure and thanks for the link, that is good stuff!
Awesome, Greg!
1298
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:57:49 PM »
Thanks guys, I appreciate the vote of support. Like I said this is just the beginning and I must admit I really did have fun writing that last letter to Bieker, especially the NCS and Timmy parts
1299
Getty Images Letter Forum / An Experiment Against Getty
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:25:14 PM »
Note: I have gone back and edited this first message to include all responses and replies to date.
On July 3 of this year I conducted an experiment just to see what would happen. I have already come forward and reveal myself on the Eli forums and I know that Getty monitors these forums so they are aware of me. In an attempt to end Getty's claim against me I sent them a letter outlining a campaign I was preparing to start unless they drop their claim. While not knowing whether they would react by dropping the claim, doing nothing or making some more aggressive move towards me I figured what have I got to lose as Getty is going to do whatever it wants. In true Getty fashion when I sent my letter to them I gave them a generous 14 days to cancel their claim before I started my campaign and I assured them that this was not an idle threat but a promise. Yesterday at the close of business was there deadline and I logged onto their site which still shows that I owe the money and are choosing to ignore my letter. I have just finished packaging up and ready to drop off in the mail tomorrow complaint letters filed with the Washington state Atty. Gen.'s office, the Ohio State Atty. Gen.'s office, the Washington State Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, my districts senator and congressman along with their Ohio State counterparts as well as a letter to the office of the president of the United States. I will also be working on sending out these tips much as April Brown has done in her campaign against team Linda trying to get on local and national radio and television programs warning people about the dangers of using images that do not belong to them or have been acquired from government sites. While on these interviews I will be sure to mention in addition to the warnings the business model that Getty has chosen to operate by in the way that they are attempting to extort money from individuals, mom-and-pop businesses and small businesses by using unrealistic and unenforceable deadlines for payment, refusing to provide proof of claim and the fear of eminent legal action.
In my letter I informed my Getty copyright compliance specialist Douglas Bieker of all of these things. I also told him that I knew the next step in the process should he choose not to release his claim would be to send the file over to NCS and out of the goodness of my heart and trying to save him time and money I was including a letter which he could forward to NCS along with my file explaining that this was a claim and not a debt, I have been trying to resolve this with Getty and they are never to contact me. I then informed Mr. Bieker that after NCS the file would most likely go to their lawyer Timothy B McCormack of McCormack IP law and that when he passes the file to him to please make sure he is aware that if I receive so much as one word from him or his pleasance legal staff without all the proof and documentation I have been requesting as to Getty's claim that a similar round of letters against Mr. McCormack to all of the recipients I mentioned above with the addition of the Washington, Oregon and Idaho State Bar associations which are the three states he is licensed in. Again as above these are not idle threats but very sincere promises.
My letter writing campaign will not end with this first round of letters. If I do not receive responses from the recipients above a second round of letters will go out within a reasonable timeframe, also since Getty has offered itself up for sale and there is a public list on the Internet a potential buyers a round of letters will be going out by the end of the week to all of the potential buyers warning them of the dangers in investing in Getty. They will be informed of Getty's current business model and encouraged to do Google searches as well as come and visit Eli to see how Getty treats people. As they most likely already know will remind them that Getty is currently facing a $12 million class-action lawsuit in Israel for the current business practices and momentum is growing for similar lawsuits in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. I will let them know that unless they are planning to purchase this company with the intent of cleaning house and correcting a failing business model that they may wish to invest their monies with companies that do not make a habit of trying to extort money and anger potential customers around the entire globe.
I will be posting my letters to Getty as well as a few of my complaint letters which are all pretty much the same but just modified to be appropriate for the person or entity they are being sent to for review. Please keep in mind that as a letter writer I have nowhere near the skill of a Matthew Chan but my goal was to come across as sincere and believable while telling my story in such a way that I hope the reader would choose to try to assist me.
I am making this experiment public as well as sharing my letters in the hope more people will join me and to show that you can fight back, if enough people are writing letters especially to the Atty. Gen.'s office, the Federal Trade Commission and their congressmen and senators then perhaps one of them will take notice and call Getty out on what they are doing.
Again I hope others will realize that as long as we sit back and do nothing, keep silent and not fight back Getty and the other stock photo companies that have chosen to participate in this business model will continue to thrive. With recent court rulings, sanctions and judgments the tide is starting to turn in the favor of sanity and while the stock photo companies are back on their heels and all of this is still recent and fresh I feel it is the perfect time for a letter writing campaign to see if we can get entities other than the courts to join into the fight.
Here are the Letters between Myself and Getty Images:
https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777294/Correspondence-with-Getty
Here are copies of the complaint letters that I sent out along with any replies and follow-up responses. To date complaint letters have been sent to the Washington State Attorney General's Office, the Washington State Better Business Bureau, the Ohio State Attorney General’s Office, Congressman Michael Turner, Senator Rob Portman and the Federal Trade Commission.
https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777301/Complaint-letters-filed-against-Getty-Images
On July 3 of this year I conducted an experiment just to see what would happen. I have already come forward and reveal myself on the Eli forums and I know that Getty monitors these forums so they are aware of me. In an attempt to end Getty's claim against me I sent them a letter outlining a campaign I was preparing to start unless they drop their claim. While not knowing whether they would react by dropping the claim, doing nothing or making some more aggressive move towards me I figured what have I got to lose as Getty is going to do whatever it wants. In true Getty fashion when I sent my letter to them I gave them a generous 14 days to cancel their claim before I started my campaign and I assured them that this was not an idle threat but a promise. Yesterday at the close of business was there deadline and I logged onto their site which still shows that I owe the money and are choosing to ignore my letter. I have just finished packaging up and ready to drop off in the mail tomorrow complaint letters filed with the Washington state Atty. Gen.'s office, the Ohio State Atty. Gen.'s office, the Washington State Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, my districts senator and congressman along with their Ohio State counterparts as well as a letter to the office of the president of the United States. I will also be working on sending out these tips much as April Brown has done in her campaign against team Linda trying to get on local and national radio and television programs warning people about the dangers of using images that do not belong to them or have been acquired from government sites. While on these interviews I will be sure to mention in addition to the warnings the business model that Getty has chosen to operate by in the way that they are attempting to extort money from individuals, mom-and-pop businesses and small businesses by using unrealistic and unenforceable deadlines for payment, refusing to provide proof of claim and the fear of eminent legal action.
In my letter I informed my Getty copyright compliance specialist Douglas Bieker of all of these things. I also told him that I knew the next step in the process should he choose not to release his claim would be to send the file over to NCS and out of the goodness of my heart and trying to save him time and money I was including a letter which he could forward to NCS along with my file explaining that this was a claim and not a debt, I have been trying to resolve this with Getty and they are never to contact me. I then informed Mr. Bieker that after NCS the file would most likely go to their lawyer Timothy B McCormack of McCormack IP law and that when he passes the file to him to please make sure he is aware that if I receive so much as one word from him or his pleasance legal staff without all the proof and documentation I have been requesting as to Getty's claim that a similar round of letters against Mr. McCormack to all of the recipients I mentioned above with the addition of the Washington, Oregon and Idaho State Bar associations which are the three states he is licensed in. Again as above these are not idle threats but very sincere promises.
My letter writing campaign will not end with this first round of letters. If I do not receive responses from the recipients above a second round of letters will go out within a reasonable timeframe, also since Getty has offered itself up for sale and there is a public list on the Internet a potential buyers a round of letters will be going out by the end of the week to all of the potential buyers warning them of the dangers in investing in Getty. They will be informed of Getty's current business model and encouraged to do Google searches as well as come and visit Eli to see how Getty treats people. As they most likely already know will remind them that Getty is currently facing a $12 million class-action lawsuit in Israel for the current business practices and momentum is growing for similar lawsuits in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. I will let them know that unless they are planning to purchase this company with the intent of cleaning house and correcting a failing business model that they may wish to invest their monies with companies that do not make a habit of trying to extort money and anger potential customers around the entire globe.
I will be posting my letters to Getty as well as a few of my complaint letters which are all pretty much the same but just modified to be appropriate for the person or entity they are being sent to for review. Please keep in mind that as a letter writer I have nowhere near the skill of a Matthew Chan but my goal was to come across as sincere and believable while telling my story in such a way that I hope the reader would choose to try to assist me.
I am making this experiment public as well as sharing my letters in the hope more people will join me and to show that you can fight back, if enough people are writing letters especially to the Atty. Gen.'s office, the Federal Trade Commission and their congressmen and senators then perhaps one of them will take notice and call Getty out on what they are doing.
Again I hope others will realize that as long as we sit back and do nothing, keep silent and not fight back Getty and the other stock photo companies that have chosen to participate in this business model will continue to thrive. With recent court rulings, sanctions and judgments the tide is starting to turn in the favor of sanity and while the stock photo companies are back on their heels and all of this is still recent and fresh I feel it is the perfect time for a letter writing campaign to see if we can get entities other than the courts to join into the fight.
Here are the Letters between Myself and Getty Images:
https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777294/Correspondence-with-Getty
Here are copies of the complaint letters that I sent out along with any replies and follow-up responses. To date complaint letters have been sent to the Washington State Attorney General's Office, the Washington State Better Business Bureau, the Ohio State Attorney General’s Office, Congressman Michael Turner, Senator Rob Portman and the Federal Trade Commission.
https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777301/Complaint-letters-filed-against-Getty-Images
1300
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Aloha plastic Surgery update
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:17:24 PM »
Thanks for the update Robert, like you I am very anxious to see what happens and how this case develops. Keep us posted
1301
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: ELI Parody of the Dallas TV Intro
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:16:13 PM »
I like it! It looks great and I can't wait for the first episode!
1302
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty and Picscout
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:14:37 PM »
This kind of thing is what I was asking about referring to in your previous thread when I was asking about the possibility of a placeholder image being used before the site went live. It looks like that this is what this may be.
If it were me I would remove the image and let Getty know that this was a placeholder image left by the developer before the site went live and has never been viewed by anyone so there are no damages. I would remind them that their CEO Mr. Klein has publicly stated on video that he is fine with people taking and using their images up to the point that they are actually used to make money. Since this is a placeholder image and was never live no one ever saw it nor was it ever used for your business. I would basically tell Getty that they can pound sand. Again this is just my opinion and you must decide what's best for you.
If it were me I would remove the image and let Getty know that this was a placeholder image left by the developer before the site went live and has never been viewed by anyone so there are no damages. I would remind them that their CEO Mr. Klein has publicly stated on video that he is fine with people taking and using their images up to the point that they are actually used to make money. Since this is a placeholder image and was never live no one ever saw it nor was it ever used for your business. I would basically tell Getty that they can pound sand. Again this is just my opinion and you must decide what's best for you.
I have a question, in the screen capture along with the date, was this about the time that your website was being developed or went live? If so this may have been a placeholder image before your website even went live and that's what this is a picture of. I'm not sure if this applies to your situation but I'm just trying to think of ways that Getty might have a screen capture of an image that has never been on your website. I know that a few others have stated that the image they received a letter over was for a placeholder image on a website that had not gone live yet.
This is an interesting case and please keep us posted as to what happens with it.
1303
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty/picscout some update
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:13:18 PM »
This kind of thing is what I was asking about referring to in your previous thread when I was asking about the possibility of a placeholder image being used before the site went live. It looks like that this is what this may be.
If it were me I would remove the image and let Getty know that this was a placeholder image left by the developer before the site went live and has never been viewed by anyone so there are no damages. I would remind them that their CEO Mr. Klein has publicly stated on video that he is fine with people taking and using their images up to the point that they are actually used to make money. Since this is a placeholder image and was never live no one ever saw it nor was it ever used for your business. I would basically tell Getty that they can pound sand. Again this is just my opinion and you must decide what's best for you.
If it were me I would remove the image and let Getty know that this was a placeholder image left by the developer before the site went live and has never been viewed by anyone so there are no damages. I would remind them that their CEO Mr. Klein has publicly stated on video that he is fine with people taking and using their images up to the point that they are actually used to make money. Since this is a placeholder image and was never live no one ever saw it nor was it ever used for your business. I would basically tell Getty that they can pound sand. Again this is just my opinion and you must decide what's best for you.
I have a question, in the screen capture along with the date, was this about the time that your website was being developed or went live? If so this may have been a placeholder image before your website even went live and that's what this is a picture of. I'm not sure if this applies to your situation but I'm just trying to think of ways that Getty might have a screen capture of an image that has never been on your website. I know that a few others have stated that the image they received a letter over was for a placeholder image on a website that had not gone live yet.
This is an interesting case and please keep us posted as to what happens with it.
1304
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Review of StopGettyImages.com
« on: July 18, 2012, 07:03:43 PM »
I got home late this evening and have been working on another post I was getting ready to make and just checked in. It looks like I've missed a lot today. To the creator of this site I want to say thank you! We need more people to step up and do things like this to help get the word out that Getty is not some all-powerful entity and you can't fight them.
I think the site looks great and I wish the creator much success!
I think the site looks great and I wish the creator much success!
1305
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: ELI Parody of the Dallas TV Intro
« on: July 18, 2012, 06:52:10 PM »
Matthew, I tried to view the video and it gave me the message that the video was removed by the user?
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