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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Letter from photographer over Getty image

« on: March 19, 2013, 05:00:33 PM »

Popcorn,

Why don't you email us a copy of the letter so we can look at it?

Thank you, Matthew - I'll do that now.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Letter from photographer over Getty image

« on: March 19, 2013, 04:59:54 PM »

The thing to bear in mind is since we don't have history with this photographer, we can't predict what they will do. So I think it's best to not over react to a suggestion that words their request for money as "it would be polite to".  If they come back and say they are asking for a settlement, then you can begin actually negotiating. Learning whether the image is registered at the US copyright office, when it was registered and would be useful things to do. That information would help you know what you might do. It might also be useful to see whether you have any comments by the photographer made back when you posted the image. If they commented more than 3 years ago, that would mean they've used up the time they are permitted to file the copyright claim.

Mind you-- if you did copy-- at some point you might decide you should offer *something* but give yourself a bit of time to decide how much.

Lucia, I just did a registered copyright search on the photographer, and they do not have the photograph registered (they only have one thing registered, and it's not what we posted). They never commented on it. Thanks again, you've been very helpful.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Letter from photographer over Getty image

« on: March 19, 2013, 04:02:40 PM »

Thank you very much, Lucia - I'll be sharing your opinion with my blog team.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Letter from photographer over Getty image

« on: March 19, 2013, 02:49:45 PM »

Hi Greg,

Thanks so much for your reply, I really appreciate your input. The photographer did state that if Getty finds out about it, we will receive a much less friendly letter. I searched Getty and was able to find the image for sale there. It has been years since we featured this photo - for the duration and context that we used the image, Getty would have asked us to pay a fraction of what this photographer is suggesting (not demanding) we pay them. The photographer is still selling prints of this image on their site, which is where we were directing readers to go and support their work. I'm still not sure how to respond to this letter, or if we even should.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Letter from photographer over Getty image

« on: March 19, 2013, 01:01:31 PM »

Hello, I am new here - I hope I am posting this in the correct place - it is Getty-images related, but the letter is from the photographer. I was a part of a blogging team that frequently featured artists in our posts. We were not claiming ownership in any way - we thought promoting the arts was a nice thing to do (I also realize now that ignorance of copyright law is no excuse - but we thought we were doing a nice thing by periodically sharing low-quality images of art we liked and directing our readers where they could buy the art prints directly from the artists).

Recently, we received a notice from a photographer who says their image is now a Getty image, and that we are to remove the photo at once (we did). They also said it would be polite to pay them (the photographer) an obscene amount of money, and gave an address to send it to (the address DOES match the location of the photographer). They said that if we did not remove the image by a certain date, they would send a cease and desist to our web host to have them remove it.

I just do not understand what type of letter we have received. The second half of the letter matches word-for-word a DMCA takedown notice, but I am thrown-off by the "would be nice" attitude of payment. We have taken down the image and removed it from the server - what now? Do we reply?