Getty/Atradius/Solicitors

[philpotts99]

Our experience has been:

Original letters from Getty in December followed up by another from a real person with a very fancy title!

Atradius letters (times 2) in January and February with several telephone calls.

Solicitors letter in April.

This seems to be quite quick for them to escalate.

Has anyone else had this experience?

The common feature with all three has been their inability to write a letter without spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and misspelling names. In my view it is also inappropriate to be calling you by your first name then unleashing a tirade of threats in the content that follows. Whatever happened to Dear Mr or Mrs (surname). They also have in common not knowing which of yours sincerely or your faithfully to sign of at the end. Get educated!

I know I am being pedantic and petty but do feel when you are being threatened at least speak properly or write a letter in the correct manner. Particularly unforgivable from a solicitor I feel.

On a separate note with Getty they keep sending junk emails which we have tried to unsubscribe from on numerous occasions but they keep on coming. Given how they have been with us looking to cause maximum havoc back with them. Any ideas? 

[geezer123]

Have they escalated it or just got their on call solicitors to write you another extortion letter?

Calm down and have another read of the UK citizens advice page.  End of the day it is always going to be your call, no one said LCS would give up easy.
Experience of these forums tells us that they do everything in the book to threaten you short of actually raising a summons, but of course that is not to say they could change that approach at any time.

Look on it in this context.
UK courts expect all parties to be reasonable in all the circumstances. They will take a dim view of a firm claiming silly money which bears no relation to the actual sums lost.

To fast track stuff like this and not clam up the High Court a Small Claims route was established. Citizens Advice goes into some detail on this.

If in the unlikely event a summons is issued you could for example offer them the cost of a 5 year licence for the photo (probably over and above what you used it for) and a token £100 for their expenses.

If they refuse that offer and proceed to court the Judge I strongly suspect take a very dim view of their claim and see you as having been reasonable and tried to settle the matter. (see the Section on part 36 offer).

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/copyright/the-internet-filesharing-and-copyright/if-a-copyright-owner-or-their-agent-is-threatening-or-pressuring-you-to-pay-compensation/

If your case goes to court

If you're taken to court for copyright infringement, tell the court of any misleading, aggressive or harassing actions against you.

The court will take the conduct of the copyright owner, exclusive licensee, or solicitor, into account. For example, the court can refuse to impose additional damages on you because of  the copyright owners’ behaviour, or refuse to impose any costs on you. Courts can also impose restraining orders.

If you're feeling threatened but the dispute is really about the settlement sum, and the copyright owner is just repeating demands for money, consider making a Part 36 offer.

A Part 36 offer calls the copyright owner’s bluff, leaving them no option but to justify the damages they are claiming in court, while protecting you against costs if you're found guilty of copyright infringement by a court.

[philpotts99]

We made a counter offer which was rejected and letter states as we cannot agree damages have been advised that client is issuing and serving proceedings. They also state we can expect a court to focus on the actual amount Getty should have received if we had acquired the requisite licence.

Letter is not directed to a single individual but the directors and no named solicitor just pp on behalf of company.

What do you think?

[geezer123]

They probably think you are ready to throw in the towel and settle based on the fact you are prepared to pay them something.

I would be tempted to tell them we have attempted mediation and made you a fair offer, over and above that we will argue that our offer is fair in Court.

If in the unlikely event they do serve a summons this will stand you in good stead with the judge. If their damages demand is as ridiculous as we think it is and bears no relation to the sums lost,the judge may well consider their application vexatious and act accordingly.....