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Getty Images Letter Forum / My Getty "experience" is over
« on: October 14, 2011, 07:35:27 PM »
It ended with a single sentence: "Getty Images is no longer pursuing this matter."
My story: I have published a food blog for 13 years (they were called websites back then, not blogs). In 2000, I wrote an educational article about honey--not a sales/marketing piece, was not selling honey, etc. In 2010, I updated the article and thought adding an image would be an improvement. I went to the US honey trade association website and found a section for press/media that included free downloadable photos of honey for use in news articles. I chose an image and added it to my article.
In mid-September 2011, I got the Getty letter. I phoned and told them where/how I got the image, and they did not care--they wanted $875. I contacted the honey trade association and turns out they had already had a run-in with Getty about their downloadable images. The honey people had hired the photographer to take a series of honey photos for them in 2000. They still had the $8,000 invoice from the photo shoot, including an extra $1,000 for "unlimited PR usage" of the photos.
The honey people wrote a nice letter to Getty explaining the situation, attached a copy of the invoice, and said "buzz off":
"We believe that the <honey association> and <me> should not be held liable to the damages incurred from this situation. It is our recommendation that Getty Images contact <photographer name> for further clarification. Please let us know when this situation has been resolved."
And then today, an e-mail from Getty: "Getty Images is no longer pursuing this matter."
According to the original invoice, the photograph retained copyright to the photos. I guess at some point he hooked up with Getty and now they're going around trying to collect money from people like me who were making legitimate use of the photos.
I know my situation is kind of a corner case, but wanted to share a small Getty victory with the good folks here in the forum. And good luck to all of you as you deal with your Getty situations.
Regards,
FoodWriter
My story: I have published a food blog for 13 years (they were called websites back then, not blogs). In 2000, I wrote an educational article about honey--not a sales/marketing piece, was not selling honey, etc. In 2010, I updated the article and thought adding an image would be an improvement. I went to the US honey trade association website and found a section for press/media that included free downloadable photos of honey for use in news articles. I chose an image and added it to my article.
In mid-September 2011, I got the Getty letter. I phoned and told them where/how I got the image, and they did not care--they wanted $875. I contacted the honey trade association and turns out they had already had a run-in with Getty about their downloadable images. The honey people had hired the photographer to take a series of honey photos for them in 2000. They still had the $8,000 invoice from the photo shoot, including an extra $1,000 for "unlimited PR usage" of the photos.
The honey people wrote a nice letter to Getty explaining the situation, attached a copy of the invoice, and said "buzz off":
"We believe that the <honey association> and <me> should not be held liable to the damages incurred from this situation. It is our recommendation that Getty Images contact <photographer name> for further clarification. Please let us know when this situation has been resolved."
And then today, an e-mail from Getty: "Getty Images is no longer pursuing this matter."
According to the original invoice, the photograph retained copyright to the photos. I guess at some point he hooked up with Getty and now they're going around trying to collect money from people like me who were making legitimate use of the photos.
I know my situation is kind of a corner case, but wanted to share a small Getty victory with the good folks here in the forum. And good luck to all of you as you deal with your Getty situations.
Regards,
FoodWriter