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Messages - Greg Troy (KeepFighting)

Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 ... 103
16
Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Higbee followup
« on: November 21, 2017, 09:03:05 PM »
Greg,

Thanks for your engagement. Perhaps "acknowledge" is not the right word. Higbee's letter lists infringing webpages and infringing file locations. So, his software knows that where an image is hosted may not be the same as the supposedly infringing site. I've had no contact with them other than their letters so he hasn't said "yeah, you're right, you're just hotlinking the image."

I've got other questions I'll post to you in private messages.

Thanks.

Thank you for the clarification, still that is the kind of sloppy "legal" work I would expect to see coming from Mr. McCormack's office back before he retired. 

17
Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Higbee followup
« on: November 21, 2017, 07:51:27 PM »
notarget,

I would be more than happy to assist you with the process of filing complaints against Higbee especially since you say he has acknowledged the fact that the image was hotlinked and did not reside on your server. I have had some experience with the complaint letter process and can share whatever information I have with you.

Higbee knows that hotlinking does not constitute infringement. In the case of Perfect10 vs Google along with several other cases Perfect10 filed the ruling clearly states that since the images do not reside on the defendants server no infringement has occurred.

https://www.scribd.com/lists/4468896/Perfect-10-v-Google


For your complaint letters I would start here with this link:

https://www.scribd.com/lists/3777301/Complaint-letters-filed-against-Getty-Images

These are copies of the complaints I filed in my own dispute with Getty Images. I filed complaints with the Washington state Atty. Gen.'s office, the Washington Better Business Bureau, my states Atty. Gen.'s office, my Congressman, Sen. in the FTC. The link contains copies of my letters, Getty's response to my complaint and then in every case I wrote a follow-up letter to the agency correcting Getty's errors, pointing out where they omitted responding as well as outright lies.

I had encouraged others who felt they were being unfairly treated by  Getty Images to file complaints as well.  The Atty. Gen.'s office started receiving so many complaints in such a short amount of time that  Getty Images actually started mentioning me indirectly in their boilerplate responses to the Atty. Gen.'s office. They started saying that This letter writing campaign is misguided and misdirected.

Since Higbee is also an attorney I would recommend filing complaints with the Bar Association(s) he is registered with and I believe Robert has provided you a link with information on that.

If you would like I would be happy to review your letters and give you suggestions before you send them out. If you don't mind I would also like to report on Higbee and your story over on Copyright Anti-Bullying Act. I personally find disgraceful that Higbee is continuing to push this even after acknowledging the images hotlinked.

You can use this link to see examples of almost 200 other complaint letters filed with the Atty. Gen.'s office. You can click on each complaint number to view that complaint in detail.

https://www.scribd.com/doc/222235974/1-2-Index-of-Compaints

This should give you enough information to get started. Please let me know if I can be of further assistance and if you would mind if I reported on your story.




18
Higbee Associates Letter & Lawsuits Forum / Re: Higbee followup
« on: November 21, 2017, 06:57:48 PM »
p.s. Here's something I'm scratching my head about. Higbee brags about having an A+ rating with the BBB. And, he's right as you can see here: https://www.bbb.org/sdoc/business-reviews/lawyers/higbee-associates-in-santa-ana-ca-100071532
But, he's got 3 positive reviews, 1 neutral review, and 4 negative reviews. In what universe does half the reviews being negative earn the business an A+ rating? The BBB site has an explanation of how they determine the rating which makes no sense to me. And, yes, I do get that resolving complaints improves one's score but there are some supposedly resolved complaints that haven't been confirmed by the customer.

In my dispute with Getty Images I ended up filing complaints with the Washington state Atty. Gen.'s office, the Washington Better Business Bureau, the Ohio State Atty. Gen.'s office, my Congressman, my Sen. and the FTC. As far as your question about the Better Business Bureau and how Higbee can maintain his rating with a number of complaints he has the BBB works like this. If a business can show that they have tried to resolve the complaint in good-faith and the customer is still not satisfied it will not count against the business. In my situation, my complaint with the BBB did not count against Getty Images because no product or service was purchased from Getty Images. 

The complaints filed against Higbee did not count against his score. If they were all about complaint letter sent out new product or service was actually purchased which is all that the BBB really deals with.


19
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: I am confused- respond or not
« on: May 18, 2017, 04:20:20 PM »
Without knowing what the image is (photo of a scalpel or an image of a DR. etc) I can only give limited and general opinions.  I would say to just ignore them.  Getty RARELY files suit over a single image, it's just not worth the cost.  As Jerry said they will probably ask for between 700-1200 bucks which is just under what it costs to go to most lawyers, which is why they price it that way.  They are hoping you will figure it is easier to just pay them than to pay a lawyer too.

There is lots of good info here on the forums, your choices are to ignore, negotiate or fight.  Lots of info on all choices.  I would read up and educate yourself on the process and what you can expect for the option you want to go with and ask questions on anything you don't understand.  The more detailed information you can give us the more detailed opinion we can give. Example, was the email from Getty, LCS or a lawyer and if so which one, what is the image of?  An image of a person requires a model release and will be worth more than an image of some gauze in case you or going with the negotiate option. 

If you just say my car is broke what should I do you may get answers like Then fix it, if you say my car won't start and it clicks when I turn the ignition you will get answers like Oh, sounds like it might be your battery, try this...

Hope this helps,

Greg

20
I agree, whether a motion to intervene is accepted or not it will be seen and cannot be unseen.  I believe a judge will also take notice if "other" parties who have been threatened, treated unjustly and attacked file these documents. 

I hope the judge is made aware of the history and track record of Mr. Albrizio and AdLife Marketing going after iStock customers after the images were pulled, knowing the letter recipients could no longer access copies of their receipts without contacting customer service.

I hope the judge is made aware that he is now pulled his images from creative outlet as well.

 I hope the judge is made aware of the threats Mr. Albrizio made against Robert.

I hope the judge is made aware of the Voices of Jupiter Florida (VOJF) blog, if they look at it they will see the tactics used by Mr. Albrizio in attempts to make good on his threats to "destroy someone and ruin their life"as well as innocent and uninvolved family members. And should Mr. Albrizio all of a sudden start feeling self-conscious about his actions and remove VOJF I'm sure there are several people who have full screen captures of every article and threats made. ;)

I hope the judge is made aware of Higbee's involvement.

I am going to be following this case very closely.




21
I thought this might happen and said as much when I found out that in addition to AdLife Marketing pulling their images from iStock they were pulling their images from LSA/Creative Outlet as well.  That happened on March 1st and I asked the question how long until we start to see a rash of new letters being sent out. 

In my opinion it seems the business model of AdLife seems to be shifting more and more to the copyright trolling side. 

22
Very interesting, thanks for sharing this Matthew.  I will have to read it again more thoroughly when I have time this weekend. This deserves a second look.

23
This is new, you are correct in that the two of them have not been seen together before.  I would need to see the letter to be able to offer you my opinion on it.  Could you send it to me at GregTroy@CABALaw(dot)org, I will look at it and give you my opinion.

24
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: LCS Trunk Archive Follow Up Letter
« on: March 29, 2017, 09:34:15 PM »
Thank you for your response, can you tell me if the image was just of a fashion design or was it of a model wearing the design?

Robert makes a salient point, you need to find out if your image was uploaded to the blog or just linking back to Instagram. If it is linked that is called "hotlinking"and in the case of Perfect10 v Google the federal court ruled that hotlinking does not constitute infringement is the image does not reside on your server but on the server the image is linked to.

Don't be concerned that they are not responding to your demands to produce the documentation you requested, I can tell you right now that they will not do it. They expect you to provide proof that you have registered the image yet they will refuse to provide proof that they have the right to collect on behalf of the artist for that image.

What they stayed about Davis v Gap is true but you'll also notice that they are still refusing to show you how they arrived at their fair market value. Going back to the car example in my previous post, you have damaged my car I can say that the fair market value to have my car repaired is $5000. That doesn't mean it's true, I can say any number I want, but only when it's taken to two or three reputable auto body shops we find out what the true market value of the repair is. Only if the case were to go to court and there records were subpoenaed would we be able to find out actual sales history, and dollar amount they received for the image and be able to determine true fair market value. I assure you Getty does not want this, and LCS IS Getty. Getty has a history of blowing it big time in court for not having proper documentation, registrations and associated paperwork to legally collect on images. They also don't want to go to court and have one of their images fair market value ruled substantially lower than what they are asking, if this happens that it throws a wrench into the whole works of their settlement demand letter program.

My advice to you at this point would be to tell Getty that you have tried negotiating in good faith to ascertain how they arrived at their fair market value number and that you will no longer have any further communications with them until such a time as they agree to provide you with proof the images properly registered, you have a copy of the signed agreement giving them the legal right to collect on behalf of the artist and supporting documentation as to how they arrived at their fair market value. You will get none of this but in the very highly unlikely event it should go to court you can show you have tried to negotiate in good faith.

After that I would no longer communicate with them in less they provide you with the information you requested. Part of their demand letter program is in my opinion to price the images as high as they can but still make it cost more to even discuss it with a lawyer than what they are asking for. They do this in hopes that people just throw up their hands and pay it to make it go away.

Continue to read the forms and continue to educate yourself and you will see that while the wording of their letters is intimidating you really have very little to worry about.

25
I think if all of you file complaints the BAR association would take it more seriously than if they received an individual complaint.

26
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: LCS Trunk Archive Follow Up Letter
« on: March 27, 2017, 09:25:00 PM »
This response is more than the usual responses I have seen.  Can you tell me more about the image, how it was used etc.

If you choose to continue to talk with them I would continue with the Davis v Gap that you started.  They have agreed and listed the factors that determine fair market value.  I would ask them to provide the numbers on how they arrived at their fair market value price.  If you hit my car and I tell you it will cost 3000 to fix it you have a right to see the estimate(s)  and how I arrived at the fair market value of the repair.

Tell me more about the image and usage and we can give you more informed opinions.

27
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: School tutor
« on: March 22, 2017, 08:05:23 PM »
This is typical Getty Images, it doesn't matter what you say it is just about the money with Getty. I think you made a good choice in filing a complaint with the Washington state Attorney General's office and they will probably leave you alone after this. Either way I would just ignore them they are not going to take you to court over this especially when they know this was through Vista print.

28
You will be fine, save your money.  Getty will not go after you over this.  Just ignore them.

30
Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Yet another MasterFile case
« on: March 14, 2017, 07:52:04 AM »
HeartvsMF, Welcome to the forum.

As to your situation I will say that masterfile is not the same as Getty images are some of the other settlement demand letter businesses. They do tend to have their ducks in a row when it comes to their images and I do think reaching out to Matthew for a support call and Oscar is a wise first step. Continue reading the form and asking questions about anything you don't understand, the senior members here have a wealth of knowledge and while every situation is different and unique we may be able to offer some insights to your situation.

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