Messages

16

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Unhappy New Year 2016 to Masterfile Defendants

« on: January 21, 2016, 03:29:15 PM »

Actually guys, Shelia Addison was active on this board about 2 years ago.  She was complaining that Oscar had been ignoring her emails.

See here:  http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/masterfile-threat-should-i-continue-to-reply/

Not only that, but her postings are quoted in the filing on Pacer which shows that these dirtbags are definitely prowling this discussion board looking for evidence.  ...which is why I'm at least semi-trying to be anonymous :-)

17

Getty Images Letter Forum / Section 512 Study: Notice and Request for Public Comment

« on: January 08, 2016, 08:08:13 PM »

Just stumbled upon this: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/12/31/2015-32973/section-512-study-notice-and-request-for-public-comment

It seems the DMCA is up for public comment.  The trolls are already out there commenting as I found this on a troll's twitter stream.

Reckon it's a good call to leave some commentary.  I would gladly help spread the word if people know the right way to go about this - 1000s of troll victims commenting would go along way I would imagine!

18

Getty Images Letter Forum / EFF will be doing "copyright week" Jan 19-22

« on: January 08, 2016, 05:50:34 PM »

Possibly of interest to folks: EFF.org will be doing a whole series on copyright law, discussing trolling of various types from Jan 19-22.  Seems like something worth tuning in for.  I had a good conversation with their team last week and they tell me they are also actively working on influencing legislation to, among other things, reform statutory minimums for infringements and other troll-friendly problems with the law. I don't have any real details on that but hopefully there will be good discussion later this month!

19

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: License Compliance Services Inc. (LCS) provokes EFF to get involved.

« on: December 25, 2015, 02:17:00 PM »

I wonder if there's anything we can do to encourage EFF to get more involved. They seem to have a pretty sensible and influential argument about how copyright law can be reformed to kill these ridiculous statutory damages and give accidental infringers a break... I've been emailing them, for what it's worth! (and sent them a donation).

20

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: License Compliance Services Inc. (LCS) provokes EFF to get involved.

« on: December 24, 2015, 04:23:21 PM »

I'm very happy to see EFF getting involved in this issue.  They seem to be one of the few organizations powerful enough to start changing copyright law with regards to image trolls.

21

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Does "innocent infringement" fall apart with copyright registration?

« on: November 18, 2015, 04:51:28 PM »

Thanks!

Yes I sent Oscar's team a request for a letter/defense a week and a half ago so hopefully I'll get a response from them this week!  $750 is still pretty extortionate, but I can live with it if it gets rid of these trolls.

22

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Does "innocent infringement" fall apart with copyright registration?

« on: November 14, 2015, 03:27:57 PM »

Thanks dude, I sent in a request for an Oscar letter last week so hopefully I'll hear from him soon and be done dealing with this!

23

Getty Images Letter Forum / Does "innocent infringement" fall apart with copyright registration?

« on: November 13, 2015, 04:13:02 PM »

I've read that an "innocent infringement" defense isn't possible if the image happens to be properly copyrighted.  Is that just a hard and fast rule? Seems like a very easy way for the troll to guarantee a minimum of $750 income off their trolling system no matter what. No?

Also it seems kind of disingenuous, as an innocent infringer obviously wouldn't have had any idea the image was copyrighted one way or another!

24

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: LCS / Trunk Archive Closed My Case

« on: November 05, 2015, 06:45:08 PM »

Very good news.  Out of curiosity, did you have a DMCA agent for your site?  Was it in place prior to the use of the image?

25

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Defining the "date of infringement" ...

« on: November 03, 2015, 05:38:12 PM »

Cool...  well, you guys reckon it's safe to assume that the troll will *claim* the date of infringement is the date stamped on the blog post (regardless of how provable this is)?

In my case I have the bonus advantage that the post in question does not appear in archive.org at all until the last few weeks (probably because their robot was poking around).

26

Getty Images Letter Forum / Defining the "date of infringement" ...

« on: November 02, 2015, 06:52:24 PM »

Hi guys.  Hypothetical here:

Lets say you've got an old ass blog post from 2005 with an image on it.  The troll discovers it last week.

Is the "date of infringement" the date last week that the troll discovers it, or is it the date on the blog post from 2005?

(obviously, just because the blog post is dated 2005 doesn't always mean it was posted then as many people back-date things... but strictly speaking lets assume it *was* posted in 2005)

27

Getty Images Letter Forum / Advice for writing a disclaimer?

« on: September 09, 2015, 04:33:52 PM »

Okay, and thanks very much for everyone's help around here!

I run a pretty well read blog and have a lot of writers (100s) who have contributed over the years. Most of these are unpaid guests, a few are paid on occasion for special circumstances.  Most do their own writing without a great deal of oversight on my part. I have very strict rules about using images and ask them to clearly cite sources and so on.  In over 20,000 posts and 10+ years we've had exactly 2 incidents of copyright trolling - I mention this because I think it speaks highly of my commitment to doing this right.

Anyway... the first time I panicked and paid the troll.  Now we're on a second incident and I'll be damned if I do it again. 

My understanding based on everything I've read here is that I should be protected by the "safe harbor" clause of the DMCA on the grounds that images are not posted by me, no one is making money (in most cases) off posts, and I've immediately complied with the take downs I've received.

What I need help with is pretty simple - can someone recommend an experienced attorney who can look at my legal disclaimer page and verify that I've got my bases covered in terms of whatever legalese needs to be there to make this clear? Would Oscar be a good guy to do it?

Many thanks!

28

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Images & a Penguin

« on: September 08, 2015, 04:10:16 PM »

Amazing.... it's awfully sad that these guys paid Getty the fee.

29

Getty Images Letter Forum / In the event of an actual lawsuit....

« on: September 08, 2015, 04:03:26 PM »

Just hypothetically... if a troll wins a suit they can force you to pay their "legal bills" whatever made up number that happens to be.   But if *you win* can you reciprocate with them covering your costs?  Or does it only go one way?

30

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Extortion Twitter Campaign!

« on: September 06, 2015, 09:12:30 PM »

Remember, it's not just Getty. There are quite a few of these trolls out there. Masterfile, Pixsy, and more...  so I'd make something more generic if you can!  Happy to tweet regardless.