Messages

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Lessons and closing thoughts from a letter recipeint

« on: June 26, 2012, 12:21:47 PM »

It appears as though this debacle is behind me now.  As Matthew said in another thread, "There are some valuable life, business, and legal lessons from this."

General lessons

• First of all, if you get a letter, don't just ignore it and hope it will go away. Seek help, and if you're reading this, you've come to the right place.
• Your local attorney may be a great IP lawyer, but they're almost certainly not as familiar and well-versed on the tactics used in these type of cases as are Matthew, Oscar and others on this forum.
• Assuming it's your first letter, your instincts may not be a good guide. If your instincts run contrary to Matthew's, you're probably wrong!

Lessons for webmasters & business owners:

• Just because the image doesn't indicate that it's copyright protected on the site you're viewing, doesn't mean someone else doesn't have a copyright on it somewhere else on the web
• Don't assume that a "noindex" or "under construction" page is really "private". The vultures have tools to find these pages, too
• Assume everything is copyright protected unless:
  
• It specifically states you can use it (like Creative Common rights).
• You paid for the rights, like from iStockPhoto or similar, or
• You took the damn picture yourself!

Lessons for copyright owners and their attorneys

• The court system is designed for people who can't settle their differences in any other way. It should not be used as a threat upon first contact.
• If you think someone took your photo, contact them, inform them you own the copyright, and ask them to take it down. Most likely they don't realize they are infringing.
• If that doesn't work, you can file a DMCA takedown notice.
• If that doesn't work, try a Cease and Decist
• If the infringer refuses to cooperate, only then should legal action be mentioned.

Over the years, I've seen dozens of my own images used on other people's sites. I've even had my entire website cloned, twice! I have always found that a simple email resolves the situation.  The fact that these threat letters immediately ask for extreme amounts and threaten legal action shows that they're all about money, and not about protecting copyrights at all.

JMHO, YMMV.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Another recipient of letter from Ms. Wright & Mr. Andersen

« on: June 21, 2012, 09:10:07 AM »

Let me clarify my statements.  I stated that photo attorney Carolyn Wright was well respected in the photography world, this isn't to say that she is not a troll of epic proportions, IMO she is.

Yeah, she could be both, but I'm just trying to determine if she really intends to spend time/money to go to court.  You once stated,

"Carolyn is well respected and I still doubt she would use this tactic without having a strong conviction that she could win in a court of law"

. (This was in regards to demanding $9k for one pic.  Now she's demanding $15k.)  Others have suggested she just makes a living off of threat letters and rarely goes to court. Hard to know what to believe.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Another recipient of letter from Ms. Wright & Mr. Andersen

« on: June 21, 2012, 08:13:56 AM »

It's not so much "weakness and fear" as it is determining the best strategy. I don't plan on sending them a dime. I've spoken to two attorneys already, and both have suggested that ignoring them is an option. It's probably not worth Ms Wright/Mr. Andersen's time and money to litigate, and the letter is simply a scare tactic. However, the same attorneys have also suggested that I could have them pen a response, which shows that I have representation, which further signals that litigation would not be an easy path for them to pursue. I'm inclined to do the former. The site in question is a side business, and I'd just assume shut it down versus paying these ambulance chasers. 

aimiyo, I suppose it depends on the definition of "published."  If one knew the URL, one could access the page.  However, nobody could get to that page via the navigation on my site. This was intentional because the page was under construction and I did not want anyone to see it. They even had the URL / path to instances of the image on the server, which I have no idea how they obtained, since a user would be unable to find this. I sent the name of the LLC to Matthew. No photographer name was mentioned in the letter. You say the pattern sounds familiar...you've seen photo rights transferred to a newly-formed LLC for the purpose of sending extortion letters in that entity's name?

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Another recipient of letter from Ms. Wright & Mr. Andersen

« on: June 20, 2012, 11:32:39 PM »

I'd rather not say, as I wonder if my new "friends" watch this forum, but it's something like [cityname] Photography, LLC.  It's a newly formed entity in Delaware, which is not the state I'm in.  I could PM you if it would help.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Another recipient of letter from Ms. Wright & Mr. Andersen

« on: June 20, 2012, 11:19:38 PM »

I've received one of these letters, and even after reading this site extensively, I'm not sure what to do.  I've seen Ms. Wright described here alternately as a "troll of Epic proportions" as well as "well respected" (in fact both comments by the same poster!), so I'm not sure what to think.

The letter I received looks a lot like the one Matthew posted on Scribd, but has some twists. First, they claim I took the photo from another business's website, which I did not. The photo was from another source where it was not marked as copyrighted nor did it contain any watermark as claimed. I used this photo on a page which was under construction as a placeholder until I could take my own photo. The page was not accessible by visitors to the site. Anyway, I have since taken my own photo and removed the alleged infringed photo.

So here's the kind of odd thing. The site from whence they allege I took the photo apparently did register it, but they are not bringing the claim. That site owner recently signed their rights over to a newly-formed LLC, which is the entity that's making the claim against me through Ms. Wright's firm. It's like they created a brand-new LLC just for the sole purpose of sending extortion letters. Anyway, they are asking for $15k to settle.

So, what to do?  Many on this site say to ignore it, as it's just a scare tactic and not worth their time/money to actually bring suit.  Others say to "take it seriously," whatever that means.  It's hard to take serious a demand for $15k for a photo that would cost 5 bucks on iStockPhoto, was not marked as copyrighted, was used on a page that was never visible to the public, and is had already been removed!

Thoughts?