ExtortionLetterInfo Forums

Retired Forums => UK Getty Images Letter Forum => Topic started by: MillyMollyMandy on January 19, 2013, 03:55:22 PM

Title: x2 Getty letters, now Atradius - placed a screenshot on site containing image
Post by: MillyMollyMandy on January 19, 2013, 03:55:22 PM

Here's my story:
I got a letter from Getty with an image I didn't recognise - it turned out that:
One of my team had used a screenshot of a 404 page published on another site to illustrate an article reviewing 404 web pages on our blog. The image in question had altered an original Getty image.

• So, website A used an altered portion of a Getty image and published it on their 404 page [website A is Russian]
  Website B [an online magazine for web designers] published a screenshot of this page to illustrate an article - it was marked with Website A's URL
  One of my team took the screenshot from website B and placed it on our own blog [website C]

I took the image down - my charge was £895 for an image that would have only cost £35 for a license.
I ignored the Getty letters and have now had the Atradius letter.
I phoned them up and said my discussion were with Getty not them, and they replied that they were authorised by getty and I had to deal with them.
I said the debt was in dispute due to the circumstances and the charge. Also said they would have to take me to court where I would explain the unusual circumstances around the image, its alteration and its appearance on my blog.
I also asked for details of Getty's successful court cases for reference which they promised to email me [not to my personal or business address by the way].

I've reported them to OFT for being unreasonable etc.

I feel that I should be putting something in writing too - any advice?

Title: Re: x2 Getty letters, now Atradius - placed a screenshot on site containing image
Post by: splashy on January 20, 2013, 05:51:17 PM

You don't have a 'debt',  this can only exist if you have a contract with Getty or you have a court judgement against you. What you have is a demand ! I would ignore it, if it goes to court, which I doubt, get it transfered to the Patent Office county court - max costs are very limited see http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/patents-court/patents-court-small-claims.pdf

I am not a lawyer, but as far as I am aware the only court case in the UK was settled out of court and rubber stamped by the judge, there is no case law.
Don't have sleepless nights - we have a similar demand going back to April 2012 - progress to date NIL, court action  - NONE.

We replied, you have been downloading and copying our website for commercial gain in violation of our copyright, please pay our demand of [much higher amount]. Getty or rather PICSEARCH will have downloaded all your website to crawl through the images. We also mentioned that they were accessing our website from various IP addresses on a frequent basis and we are analysing our server logs for a DOS attack , which is illegal in the UK.