241
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Techdirt Reports Getty Images Sued for Sending Extortion Letter to IP Law Firm!
« on: August 23, 2014, 03:04:51 PM »
Steve and Joel,
Welcome to the forum! We knew the day would come when Getty Images would send one of their demand letters to the wrong person who had the resources to fight back in a court of law. I was planning to see if I could find your emails and reach out to you tomorrow. I have been researching Getty Images and McCormack IP Law’s business model for two and half years now and have collected quite a bit of information. If you feel any of it may help with your lawsuit I would be willing to share it with you.
I firmly believe that artists have rights and should be compensated for their work but my issues with Getty Images and McCormack IP law are that
1) They seem to ask amounts disproportionate to what the images are worth and/or what they could hope to win in a court of law. (They have recently lowered their demand amounts and are getting closer to what many would consider a reasonable demand)
2) When asked to provide proof of claim to facilitate negotiation all such requests are denied and met with statements stating that the proof requested will only be provided through the discovery process, in other words will show you when we sue you.
3) As you have seen their software is flawed and sends out demand letters for images that are hot linked, not visible to the public and even in at least two cases in the public domain.
I have been working gathering information in an attempt to hopefully submit this to Congress with suggestions for making changes to the current copyright law so that it not only protects artists rights but provide some protection for people who fall into the innocent infringer category (and those that are harassed like yourselves who have not infringed) from the heavy-handed tactics, implied legal threats and bullying from companies like Getty images and McCormack IP law.
Again, welcome to the forum and I look forward to following your case as it progresses. If you would like to discuss the materials that I have send me a PM with contact information and I will be happy to reach out to you.
Welcome to the forum! We knew the day would come when Getty Images would send one of their demand letters to the wrong person who had the resources to fight back in a court of law. I was planning to see if I could find your emails and reach out to you tomorrow. I have been researching Getty Images and McCormack IP Law’s business model for two and half years now and have collected quite a bit of information. If you feel any of it may help with your lawsuit I would be willing to share it with you.
I firmly believe that artists have rights and should be compensated for their work but my issues with Getty Images and McCormack IP law are that
1) They seem to ask amounts disproportionate to what the images are worth and/or what they could hope to win in a court of law. (They have recently lowered their demand amounts and are getting closer to what many would consider a reasonable demand)
2) When asked to provide proof of claim to facilitate negotiation all such requests are denied and met with statements stating that the proof requested will only be provided through the discovery process, in other words will show you when we sue you.
3) As you have seen their software is flawed and sends out demand letters for images that are hot linked, not visible to the public and even in at least two cases in the public domain.
I have been working gathering information in an attempt to hopefully submit this to Congress with suggestions for making changes to the current copyright law so that it not only protects artists rights but provide some protection for people who fall into the innocent infringer category (and those that are harassed like yourselves who have not infringed) from the heavy-handed tactics, implied legal threats and bullying from companies like Getty images and McCormack IP law.
Again, welcome to the forum and I look forward to following your case as it progresses. If you would like to discuss the materials that I have send me a PM with contact information and I will be happy to reach out to you.