Messages

1

Getty Images Letter Forum / SOL Passed on Getty Letter

« on: March 01, 2017, 04:49:11 PM »

I came here a little over three years ago after receiving a Getty letter. Wanted to follow up and thank this site, Oscar M who I hired to handle my situation and did so fabulously, and hopefully provide some peace of mind for others. After I hired Oscar, I received one more letter from Getty. After that they disappeared. I counted the days until my SOL passed (Nov 2016). And here I am. Did not pay a cent to Getty and proud of it.

To anyone considering hiring Oscar or using any other paid services on this site - just do it. It'll be helpful beyond your dreams. And don't sweat this too much. To me it was an annoying fly I wanted to kill, but knew it would take three years to do so. Regardless, the fly (Getty) died. Take some steps to take care of this situation and then rest peacefully. It'll likely be ok.

2

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Question

« on: December 11, 2013, 03:39:31 PM »

That makes sense.

After I had time to calm down from receiving this letter, I re-read the letter I received and noticed the website Getty indicates as "violating" is a domain name with no website on it.

Nonetheless, this is good info to have for other sites I make, as I need to remake the site I took down (in my panic over the letter I received - Geawd this sucks! Better ways to spend my time and resources. Vent over.).

3

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Question

« on: December 11, 2013, 03:33:45 AM »

ok - I'll keep reading. Thank you for all of your help.

4

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Question

« on: December 10, 2013, 03:55:14 PM »

Thank you fro your reply.

Photos of the past site are on the archive - good to know it takes awhile for them to remove the past images. I definitely see the value of the adding this snippet to prevent future archives (if I rebuild a new site). I'm not a techy - where would I add it?

 

Add a robots.txt to your site to block the Internet Archive.  I use the following snippet to block the Archive and other robots currently:

User-agent: ia_archiver
Disallow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

This will get them to stop coming in the short term.  They took about a week to respond to my email.  They put up a bit of an argument so it was another three days after that before they notified me that they had officially removed my backup.

So definitely use the robots.txt if you need to stop it fast.  Then wait for the official removal.

5

Getty Images Letter Forum / Question

« on: December 10, 2013, 04:38:24 AM »

Doing all I can to remove image (my site is removed, I believe I deleted Google cache correctly, etc.). I've emailed Wayback Machine - how long does it take for them to remove site? Very stressful. Do I need to keep emailing them? Any suggestions - I'm all ears.

Also, you're all incredible. I've read several years' worth of threads at this point. I just keep shaking my head at this.   

6

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Arghhh...Received Getty Letter

« on: December 07, 2013, 03:38:14 PM »

Thank you for both of your replies.

Great info on Oscar and makes sense. I respect his experience in this niche. I read not to call his office but I'm unsure what the procedure is for getting my info to him - I will read up on it today.

Isn't it standard practice to send a cease and desist before asking for damages?

Has anyone received an initial first letter and then received additional letters about other images on their site? I did everything I could to make sure I was obtaining free images. I am now scared of the other images that were on my site (now taken down - a time, cost and hassle to rebuild). I'm fearful of receiving more "unauthorized use" letters. Has anyone else had this fear? It makes sense to me that if they scanned my site, they went over all the photos. Who knows what will come in the mail today.

 

7

Getty Images Letter Forum / Arghhh...Received Getty Letter

« on: December 07, 2013, 01:41:40 PM »

Yesterday I received an unauthorized use letter from Getty for one image asking for $965 in "damages". I immediately took down my site. Then I started doing research and have been reading non-stop. Thank you for this site and forum.

1. I'm in WA state. I'll hire an atty. to handle this - I have no patience for these guys or this. I just finished closing my Mom's estate and received plenty of unwanted phone calls - I'll take none from Getty.
2. If there was infringement (not sure there was - I deeply respect copyright and did all I could to prevent infringement), I feel horribly. But...this is insane. I've had to enforce my own copyright and TM before. First step is to send a cease and desist. Right? That's what my attorney instructed me to do. Anything beyond that is not looked favorably by the courts. Is this correct?
3. I cannot find the image Getty sent me anywhere on the web (now). I recall searching for the images using Google stock images free. Then I followed the hyperlinks to do my best to verify the images were free. So this is upsetting.
4. I'm scared of getting more letters from Getty about other images on my site. How often does this happen? Because I was already diligent in this matter, I felt safe b/c I'd taken careful measures to ensure I had used free images. OTOH, I also had many images that I had taken myself b/c I was unable to find images that I was confident were free to use - so I took the time to do this and be within the law. Makes this burn even more.   
5. Does Oscar's group successfully handle cases in WA state?
6. As others have stated, my site is a small business site. It gets few visitors, has not been up long, and is simply for informational purposes. This is a side business for me (more of a community service).
7. I looked to see if Getty or the photographer has a copyright in the US and cannot find one. It's a generic-enough image. The photographer is from outside the US. 
8. Am I in a better position to have Oscar handle this, or to have an IP atty. in my state handle this? It seems Oscar has great experience with Getty. The IP atty. I've used in the past is more experienced with TM and manufacturing, not digital. Plus, he'll charge me $450/hr. So, if I use someone in my state, I'll need to find a new atty.

I'm educated. My heart breaks for people who get this letter and are unaware of their rights.

Btw, the WA State Atty. General is very good. Do file a complaint with them. This will eventually be addressed. I've had great experiences with their office.