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Messages - RyanM

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1
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: October 24, 2012, 05:36:47 AM »
I responded to their email as follows:

Thank you for your response.

I am afraid however, that I take issue with several of your points;

1. You claim you are requesting settlement for an alleged copyright infringement. Atradius is neither a copyright holder or exclusive licensee and as such, unless you provide me with documentary evidence that you have been assigned the right to pursue this claim by the copyright holder (in this case the photographer, not Getty Images), then I do not consider you to have any right to pursue this matter.

2. You consistently fail to provide any proof that Getty Images is in fact the exclusive licensee of the image in question. I do not accept your, or your client's word as sufficient evidence, nor do I accept your claim that it is protected by client confidentiality and that I am not entitled to see it.  Put simply, it is for your client to demonstrate fully their right to make this claim and failure to do so leaves them with no claim at all.

3. You claim that the settlement demand for the alleged infringement is "roughly based on the image size and use", and "the settlement amount also accounts for the losses incurred as a result of the unauthorised use." Firstly, again, in your failure to provide documentary evidence that your client is the exclusive licensee you have not proven unauthorised use, and, secondly I do not accept 'roughly' calculated figures. I must insist that you provide a full breakdown of the calculated costs, neither Atradius or Getty Images are Judge and Jury and cannot simply pluck figures out of the air, they must be fully substantiated.

I look forward to your response and viewing the documentary evidence I have reasonably requested and have every right to see before I am to believe there is any merit to this claim.

-----

I got the following reply this morning:

As you have failed to deal with this matter in the correct manner and persist in wasting time asking for information which is irrelevant, we are not willing to discuss the matter with you any further.

As you know it is the end user who is liable for the imagery on their site. The end users claim will be against you as the web designer and we will advise them to seek legal advice on how to deal with you.

The fact remains that you did not obtain a licence to use the image.

Please do not contact us again unless you have the correct licensing information for the image. Any further communication that does not include relevant licensing information will be ignored.

2
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: September 17, 2012, 12:48:08 PM »
The following reply to my email was received today:


First of all I wish to clarify that we are pursuing your for copyright infringement, we are requesting settlement for your infringement and not a debt, we do not need a licence for this.

Furthermore you have already been informed that the agreement between our client and the photographer is confidential. You are not entitled to see it and it is subject to data protection laws.

Our client has confirmed that they represent the photographer and have supplied full image details which should be more than sufficient evidence.

The charge being made is a set fee that applies to your infringement. It’s roughly based on the image size and use.

As you didn’t purchase the item correctly and legally in the first place you cannot now expect to pay its current listed price. Furthermore the prices listed now will not be the same as the prices listed when the infringement occurred.

Rights-managed or rights-controlled images are licensed based upon several variable factors, such as price, placement and length of use. They generally average several hundred pounds to license.  An unauthorised use is not priced in the same way as a previously arranged and properly licensed image sale. The settlement amount also accounts for the losses incurred as a result of the unauthorised use, including, but not limited to, lost licensing fees and use of third-party services.  Getty Images has incurred additional losses as a result of the pursuit of the unauthorised use.

Our client has had to invest heavily in encoding software and search tools because of companies such as yours which claim they are freely able to use any image they come across on the internet. Due to this our client is fully entitled to recover the expenses they incur to trace infringers websites.

You should be aware that copyright exists upon the moment of creation. The mere existence of an image protects it under copyright law.  Getty Images represents the photographers who own the copyright in the imagery.

The accidental use of an image does not excuse the user from copyright infringement. As you may know, it is the responsibility of the end user to ensure that any content that is copied, publicly displayed and/or publicly distributed does not infringe any copyrights.  Regardless of your company's intent, it is still liable for the unauthorized use of Getty Images represented content.

Despite reliance on a third party, such as a web designer or web host, the end user of the copyrighted image is liable for the display of the imagery on their website.  The third party has the option, but not the legal obligation, to settle on your behalf.  Due to the fact that Getty Images does not have a claim against them, they are unable to send official correspondence to them directly if they are unable or unwilling to settle this matter on your behalf.

Clearly it is within the interests of all concerned to avoid legal action if possible as these proceedings are costly to both sides, However, if we do not receive payment for the use of the image we will have little alternative but defend our clients right to payment for use of their image.  We hope you will take this into consideration when responding and we look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards

3
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: September 13, 2012, 09:38:42 AM »
The OFT cannot take up individual cases and would have to look in to the company further to check whether they need a licence to do what they are doing, it may be the case that they can behave in this manner unregulated. If that is the case I intend to take it up with my local MP.

They said that anyone experiencing issues with Atradius should report them through their complaints process, although they won't assist on an individual basis they will add it to any intelligence they may already have on the organisation and take action as necessary but they need as many complaints as possible.

4
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: September 13, 2012, 08:44:37 AM »
I've spoken to the FSA who were very helpful. Having briefed them on the background and read the letter received to them, they went away and checked with another division and believe that the services Atradius Credit Insurance N.V. are authorised to 'passport' to the UK do not cover the work they are conducting on behalf of Getty and referred me back to the Office of Fair Trading who indeed confirmed that Atradius Collections Ltd's licence on the Consumer Credit Public Register has expired. Therefore, I have gone back to Atradius asking them to confirm, based on the above, under whose jurasdiction and what entity they are operating under.

5
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: September 11, 2012, 03:40:18 PM »
Whilst it may not be totally relevant as someone has stated in another post that this isn't considered a debt as there is no contract between myself and Getty, they have sent a settlement demand, the letter received from Atradius Collections implies by their name and content of their website that they are a debt collection agency, however, interestingly according to the Office of Fair Trading's public register their licence has lapsed.

Application / Licence Details
Licence Number:0590150
Licence Status:Lapsed on 07/09/2011
Current Applicant / Licensee:
Business Name   Company Registration Number
Atradius Collections Limited   3429221
Categories:
Credit reference agency
Debt adjusting/counselling
Debt collecting
Right To Canvass Off Trade Premises:No
Trading Name(s) (Current):
Atradius Collections
Issued Date: 07-Sep-2006
Legal Formation:
Body Corporate (incorporated inside UK)

6
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: September 11, 2012, 08:55:04 AM »
I'm quite sure the image was included as part of a template package purchased online but unfortunately I no longer have any documentation regarding the template as it was purchased nearly 8 years ago and the company used no longer exists.

I have copies of emails between myself and Getty from February regarding my request for proof they have been assigned the right to licence the picture and their response was:

'Getty Images has been licencing this image for the last 10 years. As previously mentioned, Getty Images represents the photographer who owns the copyright in these images.  Rights Managed images, such as the ones at issue, are exclusive to Getty Images and available for license only through our website.

7
UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Help! Debt collection letter arrived
« on: September 11, 2012, 06:01:04 AM »
I received a letter from Getty demanding settlement of £815.65 back in February. After a few communications with them when they were deliberately evasive in their replies, following advice found online I ignored the issue and heard nothing until now.

A letter from Atradius Collections was received on the 10th September but dated 31st August, an identical copy of which can be found on these forums, in which they advised that if the payment wasn't received within 5 days of the date (already passed when received) then they would have no choice but to advise their client to pursue the matter legally.

Any suggestions as to how to respond?

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