Messages

946

Legal Controversies Forum / Shame on the DOJ

« on: November 21, 2012, 02:52:39 PM »

I found this story over on the tech dirt website today and the more I read about it the angrier I become. Apparently the Department of Justice was looking at ninja video for sharing infringing files and contacted their Internet service provider Megaupload requesting cooperation. Megaupload cooperated with the DOJ by allowing them access to the servers and not allowing any files to be deleted per the DOJ could request. The DOJ even commented on Megaupload's cooperation…

“Megaupload complied with the warrant and cooperated with the government’s request,” Rothken said. He said Megaupload had gotten “a number of such warrant and subpoena type requests a year and still have an expectation that as classic ‘online service providers’ they are immune from liability for the acts of users who are the target of such warrants and subpoenas.”

Then after all of this to DOJ filed a case against Megaupload stating that there were infringing files on their servers and they knew about it. Really!?! Of course they knew about it because the DOJ said the files were there and asked them not to delete them. This is so wrong and I can't even begin to express how angry this makes me. You can read the full article here:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20121121/06442521110/megaupload-helped-doj-ninjavideo-prosecution-doj-uses-that-against-megaupload.shtml

947

Legal Controversies Forum / Re: Copyright trolls: “We don’t care if you did it or not, we just want your money!”

« on: November 21, 2012, 02:31:17 PM »

Here is an interesting article about the case above talking about how much the trolls are willing to pay to make a defendant go away when there is a good chance that the defendant can win or expose financial information and other information the trolls don't want known.

http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2012/11/20/back-of-the-napkin-arithmetic-how-much-trolls-are-willing-to-pay-when-a-defendant-endangers-their-shakedown-business/

948

Legal Controversies Forum / Re: Judge Boylson wants to test copyright trolls’ evidence in a bellwether trial

« on: November 21, 2012, 02:22:32 PM »

For those of you that a been following the Pennsylvania bellwether case which has the potential of possibly setting precedent in the trolling battle here is the latest update. Attorney Marc Randazza has joined with Jordan Rushie and submitted a memorandum of law in motion which looks like it could be devastating to Malibu Media. You can read the entire article as well as the memorandum over at die troll die:

http://dietrolldie.com/2012/11/21/rr-bomb-hits-the-pa-bellwether-case-12-cv-02088-mbb-malibu-media-v-john-does-1-22/

949

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Petition the U.S. government to change laws to end copyright trolling

« on: November 20, 2012, 10:12:50 PM »

That is awesome!

I agree that making the verbiage tighter, more compelling wouldn't hurt. But it's nice to see it in action.

Maybe it is gaining traction. Andrew Couts writes about technology. He was one of the people I was going to direct tweet to, but did not have a chance. Someone (mrcproductivity) beat me to it and Andrew tweeted the link to the petition.



Let's hope this trend continues.

950

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: NCS IP Solutions email

« on: November 20, 2012, 12:23:18 AM »

Sorry, it looked like from NCSs letter the letters from MF had been ignored.  I also was not aware that MF was using NCS, I thought that Getty was the only one of the trolls using them.

You options are still the same though.

951

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: NCS IP Solutions email

« on: November 19, 2012, 10:14:10 PM »

It sounds as if you have totally ignored the letter sent by Getty up to this point, while some in the form advocate that I personally do not in think at least one letter should be sent stating your position and demanding proof of claim.

At this point you can write NCS a letter telling them that this is a claim and not a debt and you are not aware of any judgment against you and you do not agree with Getty's claim so do not contact me again.

I would recommend reading the thread on my experiment against Getty as well as the forums in general as there is a lot of good information contained in them in which you can use. In my thread you can also see correspondence between Getty and myself as well as complaint letters that I filed against Getty with various agencies.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/an-experiment-against-getty/

Your options at this point are to continue to ignore it, to respond and handle it yourself which is what I have chose to do or retain counsel at which point Getty, NCS or Gettys lawyer Timothy McCormack would no longer be able to contact you directly.

If you choose to fight it yourself you may wish to consider Matthews support call where he can bring you up to speed very quickly and give you advice tailored to your situation. If you choose the last option I strongly recommend Oscar's defense letter program.

http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/2012-update-expansion-of-attorney-oscar-michelens-defense-letter-program/

952

Legal Controversies Forum / Re: Use of copyrighted images for educational use - legal?

« on: November 19, 2012, 08:30:16 PM »

I do not know what the Canadian law states but I do not think this would apply to fair use under US law as the college students you are teaching I'm sure are paying for their courses, so money is being made through the use of these images as instructive material and in my opinion would qualify as infringement. You would need to either lease the images or take pictures of your own that you could use in instructing your class.

953

Legal Controversies Forum / Re: Copyright trolls: “We don’t care if you did it or not, we just want your money!”

« on: November 19, 2012, 03:39:29 PM »

This case was dismissed with prejudice and the plaintiff settled with the defendant.  Here is the article and document from fightcopyrighttrolls.com:

http://fightcopyrighttrolls.com/2012/11/15/malibu-media-has-settled-the-matter-with-jeff-fantalis/

http://fightcopyrighttrolls.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/fantalis-settlement.pdf

Another victory for our side

954

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Received letter demanding $2500 from CEG TEK International

« on: November 19, 2012, 03:27:46 PM »

At this point since you have told them that you use the images I would probably want to talk to Matthew to go over what your options are and how you may wish to proceed. If you wish to handle this yourself I would recommend talking to Matthew and reading the forms, if you don't want to have to deal with it I would contact Oscar and uses defense letter program.

955

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: An Experiment Against Getty

« on: November 19, 2012, 08:34:10 AM »

I just got this response from the SEC to my inquiry about their investigation into Getty images backdating stock options. It looks as if they cannot provide me the information but she is telling me to go through the freedom of information act and providing me a link to it. When I get home from work this evening I will follow the link and see what I need to do and continue to pursue this through the FOIA. Here's a link to the response I received from the SEC.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/113769493/SEC-Response

956

UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: BBC News image

« on: November 19, 2012, 08:30:15 AM »

Not sure in the UK but in the US if the image is linked and not on the servers it is not copyright infringement.

957

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Claim from Masterfile Canada - Help needed from Oscar - Can pay.

« on: November 18, 2012, 08:10:15 PM »

If you click on my name it will give you the option to send me a PM through ELI or you may email me directly at [email protected]. 

Robert, Greg, is there a way i can contact you privatly?

Thanks!

958

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Claim from Masterfile Canada - Help needed from Oscar - Can pay.

« on: November 16, 2012, 10:52:51 PM »

Go back and read reply #1 in this thread, it depends on which copyright law the letter claims it is using, if it is Canadian law he can not if it is US copyright law he can. You will need to contact him to find out for sure if he can help you.

My apologies if I sound harsh

Hi Robert, no offense taken. MF did send me the documents: with the name of the artist in header, the image is right-managed.

Now, ive read in a previous post (Ref.: How many got sued for just one image) that the Oscar Letter Program can also handle Masterfile case from Canada. Is that true?

959

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Petition the U.S. government to change laws to end copyright trolling

« on: November 16, 2012, 12:27:04 AM »

Done!  I will let my friends know about it as well. 

960

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: How many have been sued for use of one pic?

« on: November 16, 2012, 12:18:33 AM »

Oscar can handle Masterfail and has a lot of experience dealing with them.

I have just received a letter from Masterfile for one image.  I recall getting the image from Google at one point but seeing no copyright information stated on it.  I do plan on joining the letter program Oscar offers but does this include dealing with Masterfile or just Getty?  They are demanding just shy of $2k for the one image and I can't afford to pay that.  I am trying to read up as much as I can on this forum and Internet but I just want to thank you all for helping us who are in panic mode after getting these letters.