Messages

2731

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Re: Righthaven catches a break in court

« on: September 29, 2011, 08:33:56 PM »

Would not surprise me one bit, that if RH goes under, some of these defendants start knocking on MediaNews Group, and Stephens Medias doors.. I really hope in the end , that these decisions ahve an effect on the rest of the trolls...wait and see I guess

2732

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Has anyone ever tried to negotiate with the artist directly?

« on: September 29, 2011, 08:28:37 PM »

the only one I can think of is the most recent post from the person in Israel, where he actually spoke to the photographer ( and recorded the conversation) in which the artist clearly stated he had never given any rights or signed any contract with Getty.. I think Newzshooter may have eluded to the fact that once the artist signs the contract, they are pretty much forbidden from doing anything themselves.. I would have togo back thru some posts to find the exact statement, but for some reason this is coming to mind...

2733

Getty Images Letter Forum / I-Stock Photo

« on: September 29, 2011, 02:44:41 PM »

Does I-Stock photo also send out letters? I know they are owned by Getty, I also realize that alot of the images on i-stock are available at Getty as well.. Just curious, as I'm way beyond using any stock image companies at this point.

2734

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Righthaven catches a break in court

« on: September 29, 2011, 02:32:38 PM »

Copyright lawsuit filer Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas finally received a break on Wednesday when a judge rejected requests that it be found in contempt of court, be placed in receivership and that U.S. Marshals seize its assets.

All these requests were made by attorneys for Righthaven defendant Wayne Hoehn after Righthaven failed to pay his $34,045 in legal fees by a Sept. 14 deadline.

The fees were ordered to be paid after Hoehn prevailed against Righthaven in one of its copyright infringement lawsuits.

Righthaven is appealing the rulings dismissing its lawsuit and awarding the fees to Hoehn.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro on Wednesday wrote in an order that "plaintiff does not enjoy a reasonable probability of success on the merits of its appeal."

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/sep/28/righthaven-catches-break-court/

2735

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Make Your Voice Heard!

« on: September 29, 2011, 07:27:09 AM »

Thank you Bekka for putting this out there, and very well stated. I will do my part to promote this daily in other arenas as i totally agree it will help to further the cause just by making it more public.

2736

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I need advice on this Masterfile claim please

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:32:02 PM »

I believe MF is a little different than GI in terms of the letter campaign, MF will show proof, MF does register their images, so it may not be a simple as this.

You need to understand Oscar does not generally return phone calls, he also recieves massive amounts of emails, that he needs to sift thru daily, maybe your got missed. If you want to retain Oscar, you will need to do the following.

have all paperwork thats was sent to you at the ready, call his office and DO NOT leave a message, get his assistant on the phone, explain you want to retain Oscar, give him the background of your case ( as it might be a different ballgame with MF) , give them your payment info then fax your paperwork to them.

If MF is different they will tell you this up front, so you can make a decision as to whether you want to retain him.. In the meantime notify NCS that you are refuting this "claim", it is not a bill and legally they cannot hound you, they have to send it back to MF.

Hope this helps..

FYI: I did exactly this, called the office payed, faxed the paperwork and had my letter drafted and back to me in 1 week. granted this was a while ago, and there are alot more cases on oscar desk, but he will not take your money and not perform.

2737

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Leaks show U.S. swayed Canada on copyright bill

« on: September 28, 2011, 12:01:02 PM »

imagine that Lobbyists are involved...once again it's all about money, right and wrong doesn't seem to fit into any equation anymore..

2738

Righthaven Lawsuits Forum / Judge: Righthaven lacked standing, abused Copyright Act

« on: September 28, 2011, 10:47:59 AM »

Righthaven LLC of Las Vegas lacked standing to file copyright infringement lawsuits in Colorado under its lawsuit contract with the Denver Post and abused the Copyright Act in doing so, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/sep/27/judge-righthaven-lacked-standing-abused-copyright-/

2739

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Client Received Letter -- Image Is Posted on 430 other websites

« on: September 27, 2011, 12:59:52 PM »

hmmm a couple of points to make..

1. How many sites the image is on is probably irrelevant, the stock companies sell the same images over and over again. There is no way to tell how many of those 430 actually licensed the image or how many grabbed the image from elsewhere.
2. If the image did come from stevia.com, is it actually stevias' image or did they get it from getty?
3. Is the image reversed or is it a completely different image?? If it is simply reversed or altered, it would still be copyrighted.

I'm seriously thinking that picscout has some issues in it's matching, as I've seen first hand a similar situation.

Bottom line is you will have to make some sort of decision, as I don't recommend ignoring it. If you're looking at just making it go away, you could open a line of communication with Getty and offer then a fraction of what they want...they won't accept it, but at least you made the effort, which is a point for you...

I should throw in there also that GI probably won't deal with you on this, they will only want to deal with your client since your client seems to own the domain name in question.

another option is to offer them 200.00, when they refuse use the money to retain oscar to draft a letter, which will at the very least take your client out of the loop, again your client would need to retain oscar's services.. or if your feeling fiesty and it is indeed a different image you could fight it tooth and nail, hire oscar or another ip attorney to not draft a letter,but to actually go back at them and give them a taste of their own medicine.. I'm not an attorney and this may not be the best option, or an option that would be worthwhile in the long run..it just kinda popped into my head.

2740

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty in Israel

« on: September 27, 2011, 07:19:17 AM »

I believe SG may be correct in the fact that the copyright stays with the creator, however as stated below there must be a transfer signed by the artist.


Any or all of the copyright owner’s exclusive rights or any subdivision of those rights may be transferred, but the trans­fer of exclusive rights is not valid unless that transfer is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent. Transfer of a right on a nonexclusive basis does not require a written agreement.

A copyright may also be conveyed by operation of law and may be bequeathed by will or pass as personal property by the applicable laws of intestate succession.

Copyright is a personal property right, and it is subject to the various state laws and regulations that govern the owner­ship, inheritance, or transfer of personal property as well as terms of contracts or conduct of business. For information about relevant state laws, consult an attorney.

Transfers of copyright are normally made by contract. The Copyright Office does not have any forms for such transfers. The law does provide for the recordation in the Copyright Office of transfers of copyright ownership. Although recor­dation is not required to make a valid transfer between the
parties, it does provide certain legal advantages and may be required to validate the transfer as against third parties. For information on recordation of transfers and other docu­ments related to copyright, see Circular 12, Recordation ofTransfers and Other Documents.

2741

Getty Images Letter Forum / Support changing the copyright laws to protect "innocent infringers."

« on: September 26, 2011, 08:48:20 PM »

Please consider taking a moment to add your name to this petition, there is strength  in numbers!

http://wh.gov/gJu

Feel free to pass this link along via twitter, facebook, Linkedin ect. Our goal is to reach 5000 signatures by October 24, 2011

2742

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty in Israel

« on: September 26, 2011, 08:39:21 PM »

As I understand it the image in question is registered under the photographers name, which would mean that either the rights have not been transferred to Getty, or they were transferred but someone ( GI or the photog) never updated the registration with copyright.gov. I would think a judge would look at what is on file and go from there..

2743

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty in Israel

« on: September 26, 2011, 07:17:27 PM »

Not familiar with the laws in Israel, but one would think that if the photo is registered with the US Copyright Office under the photographers name, they would have no standing, nor would Getty Images have any standing, simply put they don't own the image in question....period

Given the amount they are after, I would find yourself a local IP attorney with good credentials and retain him/her.

In regards to Marot I came across these after a quick search ( they are fairly old so they've been in cahoots with GI for a while)

http://lma-law.com/news/StatutoryDamagesforEveryCo.php

http://lma-law.com/news/JurisdictioninOnlineInfrin.php

and best of all this:

http://lma-law.com/news/CopyrightLicenseDoesNotAut.php

maybe some others will throw in the share of thoughts on this issue, best of luck and please keep us posted!

2744

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: A letter to my Congressman and my two Senators

« on: September 24, 2011, 01:04:16 PM »

Thanx Bekka!!!

I just blasted this to several groups and 2500 of my closest FB fiends! hopefully some will act upon it!

2745

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Are Stock Companies Playing Coy When One Requests Registration Information?

« on: September 24, 2011, 07:39:42 AM »

I think you pretty much nailed it with this...

"Is trying to avoid revealing whether or not an image is registered becoming the stock companies new tactic because 1) an image isn't registered and they don't want you to know it and 2) they want to hold the threat of a statutory damages case over one's head in the hopes of settling for a higher figure?"

It is widely thought that GI's library consists of mostly unregistered images, hence they don't provide this info and use the tactic that they would only supply this if the case goes to court.. MF on the other hand are just the opposite and seem to register everything one way or another, but then again, they'll also supply documentation if requested to.