Messages

271

Hawaiian Letters & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Free Baitpapers

« on: June 02, 2012, 03:57:30 PM »

The idea behind the phone call / email is to not make it a fight but to attempt an amicable resolution before the issue of copyright is ever even mentioned.  I think you guys have become so entrenched in fighting back that you never considered that there may not need to be one in the first place.

I guess that's why you and your lawyer(s) treat people so lovingly when they call and try to explain what happened and ask for relief, like Extortion Victim No More, eh, Glen?

You guys just use that old telephone to make all these amicable resolutions, right?

LOL... again.

272

Hawaiian Letters & Lawsuits Forum / Re: What is Glen Carner's Official Position on Vincent K. Tylor?

« on: June 02, 2012, 03:41:57 PM »

LOL.

273

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Pro photographer + expert witness Sedlik comments on copyright infringements

« on: June 02, 2012, 09:47:27 AM »

What I find truly daunting is hoping to find a diplomatic way to tell someone that they owe you ten thousand bucks for accidentally using a $10 image that was pretty much in the public domain by virtue of copyright abandonment, as well as telling them that you can have them sent to jail for something you know you can't possibly prove in any court.

Moe, to do that, you come onto ELI and make nice-nice to get gullible, honest, and well-meaning extortion settlement demand letter recipients to give you fresh ideas on how to revamp the letters that are no longer bringing in the kind of bucks they used to.

274

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: HAN / Copyright Services International Settlement Notification Phone Call

« on: May 31, 2012, 12:36:02 PM »

Mulligan, that's a possibility but we owe Mr. Carnen the benefit of the doubt. He did mention that he can't comment on HAN specifically because there's ongoing litigation. Those are good questions and may actually end up being part of the discovery process.

Moe and McFilms, I don't think we owe this man the benefit of the doubt, given his history and the self-serving comments he's made so far on ELI.

He's welcome to comment all he wants, but anyone who thinks settlement demand letters aren't all about the money is -- in my opinion -- naive.

He's written nothing to date on the forum here that convinces me otherwise regarding his operation.

With that written, I'll go into lurk mode because I have no tolerance for self-serving BS, and, in good conscience, I can't be polite to a copyright troll who has treated people the way this man treated EVNL and others.

275

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: HAN / Copyright Services International Settlement Notification Phone Call

« on: May 30, 2012, 10:08:28 PM »

I would like to know how you justify asking for outrages amounts after it is shown that the person has either innocently or un-willfully infringed an image.  How can companies like HAN/VKT seem to turn a blind eye to anyone who can show they have used one of your images innocently? Why not a simple cease and desist letter or if you/HAN feel there must be damages paid not the 200.00 minimum fine that is routinely used for innocent/ non-willful infringers.   I know what the law says, you are guilty regardless of how the image was obtained but wouldn’t it serve your company, its reputation, and the artist you represent much better to show a little compassion and understanding rather than demanding outrages sums and threatening jail time?

For the answer to this, look at Matt's questions No. 8 and No. 9 in another topic:

8. What are the actual split percentages of a typical settlement?  ELI has estimated a 60/40 split whereby 60% goes to the stock photo agency and 40% to the collection lawyer.  Out of "your" portion, how much goes to HAN, the photographer, PicScout, and any other parties you distribute proceeds to?

9. What percentage of your revenues come from straight sales and licensing vs. infringement settlements?

Glen Carner's answer to Matt's questions No. 8 and No. 9:

#8/9 - Unfortunately I cant comment on this.  Sorry.

Translation of "Unfortunately I cant [sic] comment on this. Sorry.":

It's all about the money, so screw individual circumstances, individual explanations, and anything else that affects the size of the payment we can extract with whatever bullying tactics we and others using extrajudicial settlement demand schemes can come up with.

Geesh.

276

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Images/Memorial Day Welcome Home surprise...

« on: May 30, 2012, 05:10:05 PM »

Hmmm, I never thought of phone calls on a daily basis until I badgered them into sending me a statement that they were no longer perusing the matter.

With that said, I suspect once you told the person on the other end of the call that you were recording the conversation would come to an abrupt end.

My recollect from reading every thread in the forum last summer is that no one has had a positive outcome with phone conversations with Getty interns, but this might be worth trying for someone who can stay calm and collected, though if the outcome produced a positive result I'd be, frankly, knocked right out of my moccasins.

I think for a "just in case we go to court" outcome you're better off with a 100% paper trail.

277

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: HAN / Copyright Services International Settlement Notification Phone Call

« on: May 30, 2012, 01:35:04 PM »

ExtortionVictimNoMore, thanks for posting that summary of what you've been through. I'm looking forward to reading Glen Carner's response.

278

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: HAN / Copyright Services International Settlement Notification Phone Call

« on: May 29, 2012, 09:52:53 AM »

Something I wrote and keep on my desk just in case I ever get a call from a copyright troll:

"I do not discuss legal matters regarding copyright disputes on the phone. Put what you have to say in writing and mail it to my address. I keep a paper trail for all legal matters. Doing so has always served me well in and out of court."

At this point I'd hang up and not reply to any additional calls from that number. I most definitely would not engage these people in any form of conversation.

279

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Images/Memorial Day Welcome Home surprise...

« on: May 29, 2012, 09:41:46 AM »

+ 1 for keeping it short and simple. I agree about admitting nothing as well as not getting into the fair use argument.

If you're going to quote, quote from Getty CEO Klein (vids on the home page of ELI) where Klein encourages people to use Getty images as long as they're not used for a commercial purpose. It seems to me that your wife fits this category perfectly. Let's see what kind of BS reply a Getty intern will have for that one.

280

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: NCS IP Solutions Settlement Offer Letter

« on: May 28, 2012, 02:23:15 PM »

Matt and Robert, thank you. Very interesting.

My situation was several letters to and from Getty and then escalation to close to three times the original demand by McCormack in an initial letter, which I rejected with a nose snort that would make a horse proud.

A second letter from McCormack of course supplied no proof of any right for them to do anything other than pound sand, so I've not responded with a reply to their non-responsive BS second letter.

It'll be interesting to see if a third letter from the copyright trolls at Timothy B. McCormack's outside counsel will be forthcoming or if instead I'll be passed over to NCS IP for a dip in their pool of BS.

I wonder about Getty's criteria for taking the various escalation options?

Is the initial escalation sent to McCormack or other outside counsel if the recipient has communicated with one of Getty's interns several times?

Or does Getty escalate first to NCS if they get no reply from their initial series of letters and then later to outside counsel if NCS fails to extract payment?

I guess there's no way of figuring out the pattern without having a whistleblowing intern from Getty onboard here to reveal some of the inner workings. I'm looking forward to the day when that finally happens. Surely, there's at least one disgruntled former intern out there who reads this forum who would like to make up for the pain he/she caused others while working in Getty's "extortion" "compliance" department.

281

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: NCS IP Solutions Settlement Offer Letter

« on: May 28, 2012, 12:36:32 PM »

Matt, did this come directly after Getty's series of letters or did it come after letters from Getty and then McCormack?

282

Legal Controversies Forum / Re: Taking a stand and fighting back first!

« on: May 26, 2012, 05:18:20 PM »

Fascinating reading about a "little guy" turning the tables on the collection agency trolls.

283

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: photoattorney.com / Carolyn Wright

« on: May 26, 2012, 05:05:18 PM »

So I get a letter from Timothy B. McCormack from Seattle, I'm located in Florida, could I upon receipt of said letter file a request for declaratory judgement in Florida , thus forcing his hand to appear in Florida to address this request? That would sure be inconvenient to say the least and costly.. I guess I'm reading this as similar to a "counter-claim" but me firing across his bow first..a pre-emptive strike as it were..thoughts?? opinions?? am I totally not "getting" this?

This is an option I'm considering if McCormack continues to harass me, though I need to do more research about just what's involved. A declaratory judgment seems to me from what I've learned so far to be a viable option if one wants to take the offensive. But it costs $350 to file, and I don't yet know if winning a declaratory judgment could potentially earn me that $350 back as well as an aggravation settlement equal to what McCormack has demanded as well as payment for the hours I've put into learning all this.

I suspect filing one of these would result in a quick settlement offer from McCormack, most likely a statement that Getty is no longer pursuing this matter as well as a signed confidentiality agreement. If I go this route, however, it's going to take more than a "no longer pursuing" statement and the chances of ever getting me to sign a confidentiality agreement are nil. I'd like nothing better than to get McCormack to pay me the outrageous settlement figure he's trying to extract from me and then to make the whole deal public with all the paperwork here on ELI. Talk about poetic justice!

One site I've found useful involves a Colorado couple who have apparently used the filing of declaratory judgments against major corporations by doing the legal work themselves. Here's the page where they discuss what they did and how they used the filing of a declaratory judgment against Disney to get Disney to back off:

http://www.tabberone.com/Trademarks/DisneyLawsuit/DisneyLawsuit.shtml

284

Legal Controversies Forum / Google and Copyright Infringement

« on: May 25, 2012, 05:39:59 PM »

Here's another interesting article that I just read about Google and how it handles copyright infringements:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2012/0525/Google-releases-data-on-piracy-takes-copyright-infringement-pretty-seriously

Reading this and learning the number of take down requests boggled my poor old brain. The number of hours consumed by copyright issues in the digital age... mercy!

285

Legal Controversies Forum / Another Lawyer Feeding Frenzy

« on: May 25, 2012, 05:35:06 PM »

Matt, please delete this topic if it's too far off the ELI themes, but I thought to add a link to an article I just read about the lawyers circling for a feeding frenzy over the recent Facebook IPO. There's an interesting story at...

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/05/25/us-facebook-lawyers-idUSBRE84O14Z20120525