Messages

2656

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Righthaven may contest creditor’s writ to seize its assets

« on: November 03, 2011, 10:42:48 AM »

Copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas signaled Wednesday that a creditor will have to jump through more hoops before it gains control of Righthaven’s assets.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/nov/03/righthaven-may-contest-creditors-writ/

I guess they just know when to throw in the towel..

2657

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Is it legal for GI to hire debt collection?

« on: November 03, 2011, 09:59:42 AM »

cost...do you know what it costs to file a suit? Are you willing to throw the dice and gamble?

2658

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Lots of RH tidbits this morning...

« on: November 03, 2011, 08:39:26 AM »

Maybe once this saga is over it will spill over to other trolls... There's always hope!

http://righthavenlawsuits.com/#Latest_News

2659

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Hit with the Letter

« on: November 03, 2011, 06:57:53 AM »

welcome the forum...I suggest you keep reading here and learning more. Unfortunately 4 hours is really not enough to absorb everything and make an educated decision. All of your questions have been answered here mulitlple times. I can tell you Getty will only want to deal with your client, as it is their site, so making it a non-issue for them will not be easy.

2660

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (ELI Highlights)

« on: November 02, 2011, 07:34:05 PM »

Thanks Matt for taking time to post this. maybe you should make it a sticky post so it doesn't get lost

2661

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Marshals ordered to seize Righthaven assets

« on: November 02, 2011, 01:16:50 PM »

Las Vegas copyright infringement lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC’s financial problems grew Tuesday when the federal court in Las Vegas commanded the U.S. Marshals Service to seize more than $63,000 in Righthaven assets to satisfy a creditor’s judgment and costs.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/nov/01/marshals-ordered-seize-righthaven-assets/

2662

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / First Righthaven trial called off

« on: November 02, 2011, 01:16:24 PM »

The first scheduled trial in a Righthaven LLC copyright infringement lawsuit was called off Tuesday so a judge could consider whether Righthaven had standing to file the suit.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/nov/01/first-righthaven-trial-called/

2663

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Copyright compliance request

« on: November 02, 2011, 06:56:12 AM »

yea I actually thought of that after I posted...poor mail clerks would be buried, and we'd be serving a dual purpose...keeping the post office in business and secure some jobs at GI, thus stimulating the economy.. 

2664

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Copyright compliance request

« on: November 01, 2011, 07:47:38 PM »

not going to work..plain and simple. Getty does not own copyright to every image, unless you plan on sending the letter to EVERY stock image site, and every photographer in the world...

to answer your question.... "then don't we as designers and users of images have an obligation to determine the copyright and legal use of images we intend to use? " yes we do, purchase them legally, take your own pictures, keep records of every transaction and keep RAW files, ect...

2665

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / ighthaven Loses Track Of Its Many Cases; Discovers Four Days Late That It Missed

« on: November 01, 2011, 01:24:57 PM »

Righthaven, which already has a history of late filings with the court, using questionable excuses, seems to be working extra hard to make any story about the company appear to be a farce. The latest is that Righthaven's lawyer, Shawn Mangano, just discovered on Monday (October 31st) that the deadline for filing the opening briefs in the Hoehn case, one of its many appeals of cases it has lost, was October 27th. He claims that the court misled him on the phone concerning the timing, though that seems questionable:
Righthaven’s counsel originally requested a telephonic 14-day extension of time to file its opening brief in this matter on October 27, but was advised that its opening brief was not due under November 28, 2011. Upon further inquiry, it appears that the opening brief deadline provided was for an associated appeal in this action concerning an award of attorneys’ fees and costs (Case No. 11-16995). Righthaven discovered this apparent misunderstanding today, October 31, 2011, which is one business day following the October 28, 2011 filing deadline for its opening brief.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111101/02044916578/righthaven-loses-track-its-many-cases-discovers-four-days-late-that-it-missed-deadline-appeal.shtml

2666

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Righthaven Asks Court To Speed Up Ruling Against It So It Doesn't Have To Pay Fo

« on: November 01, 2011, 01:23:23 PM »

The Righthaven situation keeps getting more amusing. Apparently one of the cases is actually scheduled to go to trial next week... but Righthaven doesn't want it to go forward because it can't afford to actually go to trial. However, the company seems perturbed that the defendant has filed a motion to dismiss on the same standing issue that's resulted in multiple dismissals in nearly every Righthaven case since it was discovered that the copyright transfer from newspapers to Righthaven was a sham transfer. So, Righthaven has now asked the court (involving a judge who has already ruled against Righthaven) to speed things up and avoid the trial by ordering Righthaven to show cause over the standing issue. Yes, Righthaven appears to be asking the court to speed up the process of dismissing the case, without it dismissing the case directly itself. The defendant, Kevin Kelleher and his lawyers, note the irony here:

Righthaven appears to be inviting the court to commit what Righthaven would contend is legal error by dismissing this action,’’

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111028/17283516557/righthaven-asks-court-to-speed-up-ruling-against-it-so-it-doesnt-have-to-pay-trial.shtml

2667

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: New Settlement Demand Letter by Attorney Peter T. Holt of Roseville, CA

« on: November 01, 2011, 08:35:39 AM »

Here's my theory on this situation...Keep in mind i'm not an attorney, but I did sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night!

Being that the image in question here is listed on literally dozens of "free" wallpaper sites for "free" download and the fact that a good amount of these images also have a snippet of code, to put the image on your site, is probably leading many to believe, if there is a download button, and a link that clearly states, the code can be used to put the image on your site, that the images is indeed free to use...

As many of us know by using the code and linking the image on your page, would not constitute an infringement.

I think this is a form of entrapment, and the photog is seeding all of these wallpaper sites, then using picscout or Tineye to look for the image on the web that are not using the embed code..and sending the letter, revenue from this would clearly be much more than what getty would offer.

Simply put this is being used as a business model!.

One other thing to note is that many of these "free" wallpaper sites do have the info clearly available for a DMCA Takedown, so they are pretty much protected. I also notice most of these sites have no information regarding the download and usage of the images. Would a judge if presented with a list of these sites, containing the "free" downloads and code snippets see it the same way? My guess would be yes he would, and this lawfirm/photog would have no standing..

thoughts? input??

2668

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Creditor Moves to Dismantle Copyright Troll Righthaven

« on: October 31, 2011, 07:15:43 AM »

The financial woes of Las Vegas-based copyright trolling firm Righthaven worsened Saturday when one of the defendants it unsuccessfully sued for infringement asked a judge to allow seizure of the firm’s assets — with the help of the U.S. Marshals, if necessary.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2011/10/creditor-righthaven/

2669

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Thoughts on Picscouts ignoring Robots.txt

« on: October 30, 2011, 07:49:14 PM »

you can request removal from archive.org as opposed to submitting it and waiting longer..

http://www.archive.org/about/exclude.php

Make sure to include the disallow tag for the domaintools user agent, as they abide by robots.txt

2670

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Images for Website Develops

« on: October 30, 2011, 07:44:10 PM »

I've had 2 separate designers say using images from: http://www.sxc.hu/  is OK.
I'm reading that they are owned by Getty...'RED FLAG' !?
Says these images are all royalty free and allowed to be used on websites in digital format.
I'm safe to assume these are OK to use then?

@budhappi - Do you have any contract which you have your clients sign releasing you from any of these infringements? Do you have any recommendations? Thanks.

ASSUME NOTHING - you are not correct in this thinking!

I think you are confusing "royalty free" with "public domain"..
Royalty free DOES NOT mean you can just use them for any purpose, it means you pay for a license, but do not have to pay royalty's on them.. IE you can purchase a royalty free image and use it for multiple purposes, website, print, etc...bottom line 99% of anything on the internet is owned/copyrighted by someone, there is very little in the public domain...

I explain in great detail to my clients the risks of getting images from the web, yes I have a disclaimer in my contract that releases me, I also have a clause in my hosting policy.. Do a search for hold harmless agreement, to get ideas on how to craft your contracts