Messages

1516

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Newbie to the club

« on: April 29, 2012, 10:06:57 AM »

Please keep us posted as to Getty's response.  It will be interesting to see what they say.

1517

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Ted talk on patent troll

« on: April 21, 2012, 09:55:50 AM »

I love reading your posts 

Unfortunately not to be so in my case. McCormack is my favorite ass-hat.

I'll have you know I have filed a trademark for the term "AssHat",and I make take up trolling to increase my overall revenue! 

1518

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Got My Getty Letter - Thank You For This Site

« on: April 21, 2012, 09:54:02 AM »

That is correct, it is claim and not a debt and once you tell NCS that and that you are dealing with Getty they have to leave you alone.  I too would be very interested in learning if anyone’s credit has been affected by this.  Great question.

I have planned for and am prepared for each step of the escalation.

So, those of us that have done our reading on here know this...
- it escalates to NCS
- it escalates to Tim McCormack
- it doesn't ever go to court

I know Getty hasn't ever gone to court over one image but my question is this...I think I saw somewhere deep in a post about this technically not being a bad debt but a claim so NCS can't collect once you point that out to them when it gets to that point.  Has anyone ever had their credit negatively affected because of not paying this??

1519

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Got My Getty Letter - Thank You For This Site

« on: April 21, 2012, 09:12:02 AM »

From everything I have read here I’m kind of expecting it.  I will keep everyone posted, looks like it’s going to be a long 3 years  .

Getty to this date have not filed over 1 image...Looks like round 2 is about to start.. I'll jump the gun and give you the outcome.

1.they will reject this offer
2. they will claim this is a rights managed images, thus it is "worth" more.
3. they will not supply you the info requested. They will only show you this in court.
4. will probably throw out another dead line and will threaten to escalate it to their legal dept.

1520

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Got My Getty Letter - Thank You For This Site

« on: April 20, 2012, 10:34:25 PM »

No they did not offer any proof as of yet.  After reading through the forums I see where it can go better for me if this should escalate if I have at least made an offer to try to settle the claim. In my latest response I told them that I have found about 300 images on their site similar to this one that are listed for  10-25 dollars for the same size that was on my site (granted these were all the royalty free images).  Not admitting any guilt but as a good faith gesture I offered them 75.00 dollars 3 times the amount of one of these images with the condition that no money of any amount will ever be paid until they send me copies of the information I had requested proving they owned the image and had rights to it.  What I have asked for was:

1)   Verification the image is filed at the US copyright office
2)   How it is registered – single image or group
3)   Copy of signed contract, assignment or documentation transferring the copyright to Getty for exclusive rights to the image
4)   Sales history of the image including pricing.

I also told them I would not guarantee respond in 14 days to their letters as I would reply in a reasonable time frame after I have had time to research, consult and reach a decision. 

Question for the group: To date has Getty still not actually filed suit against anyone over one image?

My plan is to keep fighting and educating myself about this, these forums are great and if I had not found them and the ELI site I probably would have knuckled under and paid out of fear and ignorance.  So thank you again ELI Team Members and all the other contributors you are making a difference.  I hope to educate myself enough to one day be able to offer helpful suggestions as well.

Pretty typical scenario, welcome the the Getty Images Merry Go Round! Naturally they want to keep this "confidential" as they don't want the public to know that they just pull amount numbers from a hat.
While the image in question may have been residing in a "public" folder, doesn't mean much, and I can see how folks could get tripped up with this. The site you got the image from may very well have purchased a license to use this image, but perhaps, they got it from google or maybe even another site or blog that has it. It's a vicious cycle. I can only guess they did not offer to answer any of your questions, regarding pricing, artist info, copyright registration info??

1521

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Got My Getty Letter - Thank You For This Site

« on: April 19, 2012, 09:59:13 PM »

I got my reply back from Getty and they are “Generously” offering to reduce their settlement amount from 875 to 625 and of course I must keep all this confidential.  What a load of BS.  I find similar images on the Getty site and that go for 20.00 bucks a piece for the same size.  Again, please correct me if I am wrong but I do not feel I owe Getty one penny since this image was found in an image gallery folder marked as public saying the gallery was owned by this person and this image had their name on under the image along with a title they had given the picture.  Everything about the image looked like it belonged to this person and they placed it in the public folder for people to use as there were other gallery folders not marked public. 

Good luck and keep us posted!

1522

Hawaiian Letters & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Hawaiian Art Network LLC v. Aloha Plastic Surgery update

« on: April 17, 2012, 01:39:40 PM »

I hope to see more and more companies/people fight for their rights.  Way to go Aloha!

Glad to see Aloha is stepping up. Just wish they would have done it sooner.

1523

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Carolyn E. Wright's Photo-Attorney Extortion Letter Taken Down by Scribd

« on: April 14, 2012, 02:59:34 PM »

Way to go!

Thank you all for continuing the fight and keeping these resources open and available to us.

1524

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Got the letter ....A question and my plan....

« on: April 14, 2012, 10:32:58 AM »

My Letter was dated March 29th.  I will be interested to see the results of this.

I also think it is a mistake to assume anything. GI may send you a "blurry PicScout screenshot" as proof of their claim. But to assume that they don't have multiple crystal clear shots is a huge mistake. I know if I were pursuing this I would gather as much supporting proof as possible.

I also think it's foolish to assume that the date of their letter is the date of their discovery. I'm certain there is a period of days, if not weeks or months that pass before they send out a notice. To outright lie about this information is just going to make you look like a jerk. You know when you put it up. Of course I'm not saying you should volunteer the exact date you uploaded the image in early conversations.

I'm doing some homework on any patterns as to when Getty and others send out letters, I've been noticing a trend, where the forums seem to get quiet, and then all of a sudden get busy again.. I can't help but think that Getty tends to send out letters on a monthly basis all in one shot. If anywould would like to volunteer when their letters were dated it would help in my research, I f a pattern emerges I'll have a look at how hawaiian art network operates as well..it might just be me, but in talking with Matt recently, we discussed the fact that it's usually quiet right before the storm.. This would lend credibility to the fact that you can't use the date of the letter as date of the infringement discovery.....Poor mail mail must hate to pick up Getty's mail on the dates in questions...if it pans out

1525

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: My Story

« on: April 07, 2012, 09:11:38 PM »

Doc,

I received my letter a few days after you had received your letter. I sent my reply  letter to the address on the letter head, and sent it certified so I would get physical proof of receipt.  You cannot send a certified letter to a P.O. Box as there is no one there to sign for it.  Good luck.

1526

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Oscar Michelen Defends Chaga Against $6 Million Masterfile Lawsuit

« on: April 07, 2012, 09:06:10 PM »

Wow, lots of great information here.  It will take a while to digest all of this.  Thanks for posting this.

1527

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: The Hypocrite of the Century!

« on: April 07, 2012, 09:00:39 PM »

Looking forward to the article, I will be very interested in reading it.  After I made this post I continued to think about the subject for a while.  I would also be interested in knowing if the owners of the image(s) are notified of every letter that is sent out and how much of any amounts recovered goes to the artist and how much goes to Getty. 

From what I have read in the forums it looks like Getty used to charge reasonable amounts for most of the images they manage, now they charge hundreds of dollars for the same images apparently so they can justify the amounts requested in their demand letters.  My Demand Letter wants $850.00 for one image, when I went to the Getty site to see what the image cost they wanted over $500.00.  I think very few people would pay over $500.00 for one image for one year.  I wonder how the artists feels about their images being priced so high as to drive away real sales.  I would love to see the artists pull their images from Getty when their contracts expire and move them to stock photo companies that are actually in business to license images. 

As I wonder why a company is allowed to continue to behave in this manner I realize the answer is simple, like most, until I received my letter I had absolutely no idea this was happening.  If there was only a way to bring national attention to the Getty Demand Letters practice and produce enough negative light on the company to cause them to rescind this practice, but I have no idea how to do this and the only thing I can do is to keep fighting and telling everyone I know about what is happening. 

1528

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Beat the Getty Images Extortion Letter: Special Report!

« on: April 06, 2012, 03:40:32 PM »

When you are ready to start it I would love to participate in the BETA program.  I will keep checking for a link.

1529

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: The Hypocrite of the Century!

« on: April 06, 2012, 01:08:46 PM »

Thanks for the information and the link to the article, this is VERY interesting.  I agree with buddhapi, the CEO has to know of and approve of what the demand letter department is doing.  I’m sure that enough people just pay the settlement fees out of fear of a lawsuit, lack of research or whatever the reason that it must be worth it for them to continue this activity.  I would love to see one of their financials and see what percentage of income is derived from the Demand Letter Department.  Must be pretty darn good as I would never do anything that would portray my company In a negative light or damage it’s reputation, I can only hope that this comes back to bite them  in the long run and all the copycats out there.

1530

Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Got My Getty Letter - Thank You For This Site

« on: April 03, 2012, 07:01:02 PM »

Thanks for all of your tips and advice. I have been working on my reply letter and after reading everyone's posts I will remove the parts explaining where the image came from and incorporate the other suggestions as well.  Thanks again!