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Messages - Kelly

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Hi there, so glad I came across the forum, and I really hope someone can help me as I will definitely me contributing to the Forum if that is the case! (I'm UK based - I hope I have put this in the right area)

Stupidly - I have started up a business and have also a Cashmere website. Now I know that I am  in the wrong here if no active license can be found for the image. (I had a young girl help me with the website blog - who claims she got the image elsewhere on the web) Problem is I generally do not have ÂŁ750 to give to Getty and it is over double the cost if I was to purchase the image.

I have paid for images through IStock before, so assumed this is the account she would have used.
Regardless, the business is not earning money from the Cashmere side ( I am a freelance digital marketeer) but I keep the site open for portfolio reasons mainly (I don't earn enough for it to carry itself currently!)

I received a email from them with the image print screened, saying they need to see an active license.
With that I felt sick! I am still trying to get to the bottom of it all but I really doubt there is one! The image that the intern put onto the blog was of extremely low quality - the site does not get much traffic at all apart from the team going on there every so often. I took the image off straight away - shocked!!

- - See Below :

TO RESOLVE THIS MATTER - (Case Number: 380106631)

You are requested to take action within 14 days of the date of this email, as follows:
•   If your company has a valid license / authorization for the use of the imagery, please email the license purchase / authorization information to: licensecomplianceUK@gettyimages.com

•   If your company does not have a valid license / authorization for the use of the imagery:
o   A ÂŁ750.00 settlement payment should be remitted (see payment options below).
Please note, we are only charging the average licensing fee for commercial use of the rights-managed image(s) found on your website. Getty Images has incurred additional costs of $400 per image related to the pursuit of this matter; we are currently waiving this cost, as we understand this unlicensed use may have been unintentional.

I simply cannot afford ÂŁ750 - I can barely support myself currently. I saw an email online that states about pushing fair market value. (As this would have cost me under ÂŁ319 to purchase) I don't even have this!! But I could manage to borrow it perhaps.

This is what I was going to respond with after looking through things, but I just need some advice if possible as I am so scared they are going to take it further and I don't have that money!
Just another huge hurdle to jump over after just starting my own business, I am so upset and I do understand it is my fault, but it was unintentional, I just really hope I can get this down.

I am scared to send them this however without some feedback first - I have already emailed and grovelled, but just got the above emailed to me.

-----

Dear Anne (Compliance Team)

As I have mentioned prior in the email of the 7th May. We are checking into this and all I can do is apologise if this has indeed been the case. Reading through your latest email; whilst I accept that if we did use this image without the correct licensing, this would have been mistake on our part, it would have been done so by mistake and the photo would have been sourced elsewhere – not from the Getty website, as it would have been completely unintentional. The website currently is used as a website portfolio, whilst this does not give me the right, I would just like to mention that if there is no license found for this photo, the resolution is of low quality. It is also on a blog post where the only traffic it receives, is by the 3 people that are working on the website. 

Whilst we are still looking into this our end, I thought it would be best to seek advice on this matter, due to the settlement offer being double the cost of the proposed license as checked on your website and after we have also analysed very similar images on the Getty website.


27/05/2015

Copyright Compliance Team
Getty Images Inc.
101 Bayham Street
London, NW1 0AG, UK

Getty Case Number: #380106631

To Whom it may concern:

Thank you for your email dated 26/05/2015 notifying Duck Soup Designs Ltd (“Duck Soup”) that the website www.shopducksoup.com may have used an image represented by Getty Images (“Getty”), without authorization.

If the alleged copyright infringement did take place, be assured that it was entirely innocent and unwilling. The website is actually used for website design portfolio purposes. However, until this matter is resolved, the potentially infringing image has been removed from the Website as from April 2015 and any other location on our server, including any server backups.
As a proposed licensing fee does not determine copyright infringement damage awards while admitting no guilt or wrongdoing, we are willing offer reasonable settlement based upon the fair market value. As noted in Davis v. Gap, Inc., 246 F.3d 152 (2d Cir. 2001);

“Courts have construed “actual damages” by examining the fair market value of a license fee that the copyright owner would have obtained for the infringer’s use of the copyrighted material” . . . . “The question is not what the owner would have charged, but rather what is the fair market value.”
We have found dozens of nearly identical or similar images that could easily replace the image at issue here. In some cases, the photos are available for a fee while others require credits. Below find some of the many functionally identical images from comparable stock photo sites. All prices listed are for sizes equivalent to the image in question, approximately 10MB. This also includes the offending image license pricing.

•   â€śWoman washing hair in bathroom sink” (available on [GettyImages.co.uk] for [Price ÂŁ319.00]:
 http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/woman-washing-hair-in-bathroom-sink-high-res-stock-photography/53289370
•   â€śWoman washing hair” ” (available on [GettyImages.co.uk] for [Price ÂŁ319.00]: http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/photo/woman-washing-hair-high-res-stock-photography/53288973




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