Messages

2161

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty and the Stone Collection

« on: March 16, 2012, 01:30:10 PM »

I and probably most others would agree with you on this, and it's healthy to vent once in a while.. 1 point I think your missing is the fact that yes Getty is a large company and worth millions, their business model has greatly suffered, and there is just no money to be made anymore with stock photography, microstock maybe..So they basically have moved into this new "business model" knowing they can recoup some of the losses by chasing innocent infringers and relying on the fact that the general public is ignorant, in terms of the law. I would love to get my fingers on some stats showing how many letters get sent and the percentage that are just paid. I will continue to believe and will until I am shown something different , that Getty Images, Hawaiian Art Network, and the other copyright extortion trolls make most of their money thru these letters..

2162

Legal Controversies Forum / Re: “Bachelor” Producers Extortion Lawsuit Against “Reality Steve”

« on: March 15, 2012, 03:10:12 PM »

Great article Oscar!

2163

Legal Controversies Forum / Holocaust History Preserver Shoah Foundation's Patents Being Used To Sue Google,

« on: March 14, 2012, 06:48:07 PM »

The Shoah Foundation is the very famous organization put together initially by Stephen Spielberg in the 1990s to interview and record video histories of the Holocaust before those who lived through it -- either as survivors or witnesses -- died off. Most people recognize that this was a tremendously important historical project, that involved over 50,000 interviews. In 2005, the Shoah Foundation became a part of the University of Southern California. The organization has continued to do incredible work, but it appears that it's in the process of tarnishing its reputation in a massive way by allowing its patents to be used in a series of patent troll lawsuits (while trying to avoid being associated with the dirty work).

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20120310/01381118066/holocaust-history-preserver-shoah-foundations-patents-being-used-to-sue-google-facebook-hulu-netflix-amazon.shtml

2164

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / News Licensing Outfit NewsRight Bags First Client

« on: March 14, 2012, 01:22:10 PM »

News companies have notched a victory in their long running push to charge digital aggregators for curating their content. On Wednesday, licensing service NewsRight announced a deal that could be the first step in creating a major new revenue stream for companies like the New York Times (NYSE: NYT) and the Associated Press.

The deal in question involves a news monitoring service called Moreover which will pay NewsRight to license the content it now scrapes on behalf of its clients. The licensing service will in turn distribute the revenue to the 29 news firms that are its shareholders....

NewsRight has said in the past that it is not a “litigation shop.” And the organization is also carrying several carrots to go with the copyright stick it is carrying.....

 http://paidcontent.org/article/419-news-licensing-outfit-newsright-bags-first-client/

2165

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: NCS Recovery using the name NCS IP Solutions?

« on: March 14, 2012, 10:52:45 AM »

You will have to notify NCS in writing as laid out in the thread I mentioned above. Once you dispute this, NCS can longer contact you..whoever Masterfile will continue to send letters and you will most likely get a letter from their "legal dept", again threatening to sue you. MF has filed lawsuits, but rarely over 1 image. There is no magic answer, you will need to decide who to best handle the situation, with the given options..Keep reading and get more education as you will be better armed.

2166

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Judge Orders Failed Copyright Troll to Forfeit ‘All’ Copyrights

« on: March 13, 2012, 05:27:04 PM »

Righthaven, a copyright-troll law firm that failed in its attempt to make money for newspapers by suing readers for sharing stories online, was dealt a death blow Tuesday by a federal judge who ordered the Las Vegas company to forfeit “all of” its intellectual property and other “intangible property” to settle its debts.

The order is an ironic twist to a copyright trolling saga that began in 2010, when Righthaven was formed with the idea of suing blogs and websites that re-post newspaper articles or snippets of them without permission.

U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro of Nevada ordered Righthaven to surrender for auction the 278 copyrighted news articles that were the subject of its lawsuits.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/03/troll-forfeits-copyrights/

2167

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: NCS Recovery using the name NCS IP Solutions?

« on: March 13, 2012, 02:40:19 PM »

@useit, I hope you do realize this is a "claim" and not a debt, you could very easily have them go away..read the thread on fair collection practices on this forum, by law they have to send it back to masterfile..By settling with the collection agency, you're really only succeeding in feeding 2 trolls, as opposed to 1! just my 2 cents worth..

2168

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Image on Getty is no longer available

« on: March 13, 2012, 01:11:12 PM »

Agreed. We all know they keep an eye on this forum. I'm surprised you haven't received a call from them yet saying that Getty will not be pursuing this matter.

LOL, that would entail them admitting they made a mistake! not to mention I'm sure that isn't a part of the script that the college interns read when speaking with supposed infringers.

2169

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Looking to other extortion industries

« on: March 13, 2012, 10:10:07 AM »

Just an FYI: Getty is not known for being overly organized, take a look at the advernet case, and you'll see how dis-organized they really are..

2170

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Looking to other extortion industries

« on: March 13, 2012, 09:28:55 AM »

This is very interesting, and a very good reply letter, I'm very curious as to if the "Parking Troll" will issue a response. Kudo's to this blogger for bringing this public and naming and shaming them, a little bad PR goes a long way these days. 

2171

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Image on Getty is no longer available

« on: March 13, 2012, 06:41:02 AM »

Does the immediate removal of the image from commercial availability confirm that Getty et al wish to obscure what the image is actually worth?

S.G.

The Russian site is probably a Getty affiliate partner, we probably brought it to Getty's attention, thus they had it removed. I'm not sure price had anything to do with it,but it is plausible.

2172

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Image on Getty is no longer available

« on: March 12, 2012, 07:12:06 PM »

Lesson learned, if ever an image is available elsewhere, get a screen capture, just in case! Whats good for the goose is good for the gander!

2173

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Image on Getty is no longer available

« on: March 12, 2012, 06:32:24 PM »

Don't know, but I'd be willing to bet that Getty won't give the artist any of the money they may collect...

2174

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Stephens Media Could Face Legal Bill For Unleashing Righthaven

« on: March 12, 2012, 05:45:30 PM »

Now Stephens Media might also be ordered to take out its checkbook. U.S. District Court Judge Roger Hunt in Nevada just issued summary judgment against Stephens Media in a case stemming from a Righthaven lawsuit against Democratic Underground. In that case, a Web user who went by “Pampango” posted a five-sentence excerpt of a 50-sentence news article on the site. Democratic Underground removed the post after learning of the lawsuit.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/170015/stephens-media-could-face-legal-bill-for-unleashin.html

2175

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Image on Getty is no longer available

« on: March 12, 2012, 05:43:38 PM »

I would find out when the artist cut ties with Getty ( get this in an email for your records), if was before the date of your letter, i would not offer them anything, and i would bring it to their attention that they have no rights to try to collect on an image they do not manage or have rights to.