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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: September 15, 2013, 08:04:33 PM »

Ok, thanks for the advice and backup. I'll keep you, and anyone else who is interested, informed about any developments.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: September 14, 2013, 11:39:23 PM »

I'll just put as much time and delay between each letter as possible (by responding to a letter immediately upon receiving their next letter, and repeating that procedure regarding the newly received letter, until I can finally inform them that the statute of limitations is up). My latest letter warns that if they continue to accuse and harass me, I will write them up to the relevant authorities. And, I will do what I say. (I've already downloaded your letters... meaning Troy's letters... so that I have templates to work off of.) And, in my next letter they will get copies of the letters I've sent out to the authorities.

Mulligan's view on writing the attorney bar associations makes sense as they protect their own, except for egregious violations that they want to distance themselves from. Yet, letters to the FTC, BBBs, Attorney Generals, some big consumer advocate groups, and my own state representatives should have some impact.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: September 14, 2013, 07:35:57 PM »

I hope that you are right.
I'll just continue along corresponding with them until my SOL runs out.
Anyone else using the same strategy?

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: September 14, 2013, 12:37:01 PM »

You would think this McCormack ghoul would be concerned about all the letters that GettyImages victims are sending to the bar associations, BBBs and gov representatives about his firm. Afraid that enough letters would hit to finally warrant an investigation threatening his reputation or license. I guess it's true that criminals aren't very smart.

Anyway... I'll just continue to respond to their letters in a polite, business-like manner, in order to confuse the issue and drag things out, until the 3 year statute of limitations is up. At that point I'll send them a final "eff you" letter informing them that my SOL is now up. 

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: September 14, 2013, 08:36:25 AM »

Well... it is hard to conceive that he would spend the time and money to take legal action against my company for a $25 thumbnail image that was offered for free by an image directory and downloaded. (And, is an altered, reversed and cropped version of the image Getty Images furnished me with.) What is he going to do, hire an attorney firm down here in Southern California to take me to court for a judgement that would probably never be more than a few hundred bucks? I would think that if I write back or ignore him the result will be the same... no action. Yet, the reason I decided to write was that if it ever did go to court a judge would see that I was being responsible and civil by corresponding and attempting to work out a resolution, as opposed to ignoring Getty Images. That is my line of reasoning. Am I missing something?

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: September 14, 2013, 05:59:45 AM »

I've decided to respond. Will take Troy's advice. Will send them a cover letter over my previous letter to Getty. Will make the key points that challenge their actions and will notify them that if they don't cease and desist I will execute a letter writing campaign (informing: my gov reps, AG, FTC and all of the bar associations and BBBs for every state that McCormack practices law in) notifying all parties of this criminal extortion activity. Hopefully that will be enough to make these parasites go away. 

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: August 15, 2013, 08:51:20 PM »

Anyone know the answer to this?

Will the Secretary of State of California allow you to dissolve a corporation if there is a judgement against it, or would you have to handle the judgement first and show documented proof to the Sec of State that the judgement was in fact paid before they would allow a dissolution of the corp? 

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: August 15, 2013, 08:50:23 PM »

Oh, if I decide to act rather than sit back and ignore I will definitely follow through.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: August 15, 2013, 01:30:10 PM »

Greg Troy:
Resending my last letter to GI to this attorney, with a cover letter stating the points that you just made re: reporting them, might be the right next move for me in this silly chess game. Thanks buddy.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: August 15, 2013, 01:25:16 PM »

Thanks for the feedback thus far guys. It helps me in considering my options.

I see from studying up a bit that there finally has been a court case in the US (with a law firm of all things) regarding one image. It may be bogus, it may not be. They may escalate and start launching lawsuits in the US now. You never know. Hard to believe that an attorney would do so for such a small amount of money, for one image (of which the "infringement" is questionable). The only thing that would make sense would be to attempt it through small claims court. And, in that case one could go and defend themself and take their chances. And if you lost it would still be a judgement that GI would have to work at collecting (and would never get). 

One understanding I was given was that it is never good to ignore or not respond to attorney correspondence or their attempts to contact you, as if it does go to court it makes you look bad to the judge. It is better if the judge sees that you "were responsible" and tried to deal with or sort out the matter (ignoring an attorney might act as an indication of guilt to a judge). Don't know if this is correct or not. If it is, we could just continue to resend our last response letter to the attorney, collection agency or whoever contacts us regarding the GI "copyright infringement" everytime they contact us... until either the SOL runs out or they get a judgement against us.

Another understanding I was given is to ignore them and they'll most likely just go away. If they actually did take it to court, and you continued to ignore them and didn't show up, they would get a judgement against your company. But getting a judgement is one thing. Collecting and getting the money is another. In our case they would have a judgement against our company which is an S Corp. The judgement could just sit there for all we care. We plan to move to another state within the next few years anyway. When we do we'd dissolve this S Corp anyway and create a new one for the state we are in.

The only question I have about this approach is... will a state allow you to dissolve a corporation if there is a judgement against it, or would you have to handle the judgement first and show documented proof to the state that the judgement was in fact paid before they would allow a dissolution of the corp? Anyone know about this?

Thanks in advance.   

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Getty Images Letter Forum / I thought Getty Images went away. Just got letter from attorney.

« on: August 15, 2013, 04:01:12 AM »

On Aug 23, 2012 we got a letter from GettyImages stating that we were guilty of copyright infringement and owed them $800. (The image in question was a little thumbnail that our webmaster had obtained for free from some image directory, downloaded in good faith, and had cropped to an even smaller size.) We immediately took the image down just to be safe. We corresponded with GI via a few emails, one phone call, and two letters. Our last correspondence to them was a letter dated Nov 1, 2012. In that letter we: 1) demanded proof of their ownership of the image; 2) informed them that, since there had not been a judgement or legitimate bill, they could not turn us over to a collection agency; 3) and, notified them that if they submitted valid proof of copyright ownership to us, we would be willing to settle for $25, which was the going rate for an image of this size. GI never responded to that letter.

Never heard from them again for 9 months, until now. This time a letter dated Aug 2, 2013 from the legal firm of Timothy B. McCormack. The letter informed us that we were guilty of copyright infringement, that GI did not have to submit proof of ownership of the image to us, and the amount of $1,400 was demanded in order to “end the matter immediately”. The letter also stated that damages could be up to $350,000 per image, as well as recovery of all attorney fees and costs.

We don’t intend to pay one penny to GI because we did not do anything wrong, and because this is just extortion. Everyone knows that GI is morally bankrupt and are just fishing for money.

Apparently the statute of limitations is 3 years on this so we are almost at one down and two more to go.

What has proven to be the workable approach to this attorney letter? Ignore it? Or respond with specific points?

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Gettyimage letter demanding $875 for copyright infringement.

« on: October 25, 2012, 03:29:48 PM »

Ok, Greg. Thank you for your time, concern and input. I started the ball rolling with Gettyimages already. I will put a complete package up on this forum (of the letters, responses, etc.) at the appropriate time for the edification of all forum members to aid them in their dealings as well.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Gettyimage letter demanding $875 for copyright infringement.

« on: October 25, 2012, 02:52:44 AM »

Thanks for all the info. I'm not going to ignore this. I will deal with them. Yet, I believe that... 1) if they don't show me valid proof of ownership, my company doesn't  even have to consider their claim... 2) they won't go legal for $875... 3) they can't sic a collection company after my company because it is not a bill or a debt, it's a claim... 4) I can put up with 3 years of calls and letters, knowing that they will then go away (plus I don't have to read the letters or take the calls).

The reason that I am being so hard about this...
I just heard back from the artist (web designer) who put this image up on my site. He told me that he never used any images from Gettyimages, or any illegal images for that matter. He's been a designer since 1980 and he keeps his nose clean and stays away from copyright infringement. He said many companies gave free low res "demos" away to web designers like him, and he probably used one of the free images and then that company and their inventory was later bought up by Gettyimages—who is now going after the designers for using the images that they were originally given for free. He said that Gettyimages has come after him 3 times, he ignored them each time, they couldn't prove anything and they went away. He has since moved to Italy so he's out of the loop now anyway. He also said that he buys images frequently and knows the market, and the image that Gettyimages wants me to pay $875 for should only cost $25! 

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Gettyimage letter demanding $875 for copyright infringement.

« on: October 24, 2012, 08:38:26 PM »

$875 claim demand for a little thumbnail image that an artist put up on our website next to his portfolio (which we immediately took down upon receiving letter from Gettyimages).

It's hard to believe that anyone (Gettyimages included) would spend money and time on attorneys in order to take us to court for the small amount of $875. And I don't think they can turn it over to a collection agency because is isn't a bill or late payment based on any agreement. And from surfing through this forum it appears that Gettyimages hasn't taken anyone to court yet.

Anyone who has been through this already... what can I expect?

What will happen if I just cease all communications and ignore this?

 

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Ok to deal with GettyImages via email as opposed to USPS?

« on: August 31, 2012, 01:44:05 AM »

Received our first GettyImage letter. Charging our company $850 for copyright infringement re: a small image that one of our independent contractors (a creative) put up on our website. I'm studying up now on this forum.

Question: Once I have my strategy in place, is it ok to deal with the License Compliance Specialist at GettyImages (D. Bieker) via email or should all correspondence only be via USPS for certain legal reasons?

Thanks in advance for your help and advice.

Alfred