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Getty Images Letter Forum / A New Getty Problem - Cease & Desist Letter from France

« on: December 28, 2016, 06:23:30 PM »

Today I received a Cease & Desist letter from a law firm that appears to be based in Paris, France. They have "demanded" that I remove all of my writings about Getty Images from my website at ryanhealy.com. For now, I have unpublished these articles since they set a deadline of Dec. 28, 2016 to remove the content from my site. I only just got the letter TODAY (Dec. 28, 2016), so that does not give me any time to research this matter or see what rights I may have in this matter.

You can download the letter and read it for yourself here: http://www.ryanhealy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/getty-cease-and-desist.pdf

The funny part about all this is they are citing French law to intimidate me. But I live in the U.S. so I'm not sure how or why they think French law governs what I post on my blog.

All the posts in question were published in late 2012 and early 2013, and my professional business (writing sales copy) has nothing to do with copyright law or copyright issues. I only wrote my blog posts as a way to warn other people of the pitfalls of using digital images, especially those licensed by Getty.

So I don't really care whether or not my posts about Getty stay online. But as a matter of principle I would like to keep my posts online if possible. At the same time, I do not have the time, energy, or desire to engage this particular law firm in a legal fight.

Thoughts? Opinions? Any feedback is appreciated. Thank you.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Guest Post on Wordstream

« on: October 22, 2012, 11:48:52 AM »

I wrote a follow-up guest post for publication on Wordstream to continue what I started on my blog a couple weeks ago. Feel free to share it if you'd like:

Free Blog Photos? Not So Much: Getty Images Demands Big Money from Bloggers
http://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2012/10/22/free-blog-photos-not-so-free

Thanks,
Ryan

3

Getty Images Letter Forum / Trollog Defined

« on: October 16, 2012, 11:41:30 AM »

It's official.

"Trollog" is now part of Urban Dictionary -

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=trollog

4

Getty Images Letter Forum / I am getting slammed by photographers

« on: October 12, 2012, 10:00:40 AM »

Hey Guys,

My first post in these forums...

I've gotten three settlement demand letters from Getty. I then hired Matthew for a 30-minute call over the summer, which was super helpful. At that time I told him I would right an expose on my blog about Getty's unethical actions.

Well, I finally got around to publishing my expose earlier this week -- with links back to ELI for anybody facing a similar situation.

At first, my readers were sympathetic, and I expected most people would be sympathetic. But now I'm getting slammed with comments from photographers about how I should quit whining and just pay up. (!!!)

I'm responding to their comments as best I can, but my responses carry less weight since I'm defending myself.

Anyway, if you'd like to respond to any of the crazy comments I'm getting (or just see how people respond to this issue), feel free to do so here:

http://www.ryanhealy.com/getty-images-extortion-letter/

And if posting this link is not appropriate, feel free to delete it. Thanks.

Ryan