tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post8350073913707880183..comments2009-06-17T01:15:05.534-07:00Markhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11526351081081042485noreply@blogger.comBlogger32125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-18073843876803314492009-06-16T12:56:58.517-07:002009-06-16T12:56:58.517-07:00Hi there, found this blog really useful. I am being chased by Getty Images for a third party designed website. I note the comments about Trading Standards so will definitely try this tactic. Have spoken with my lawyers and they said they have come across Getty but the news isn&#39;t good as Getty will pursue the death out of you till they get their dosh. They want £3000 from me which I can&#39;t afford to give them even though my insurers who are sympathetic and will pay it. I would still have to pay the excess. Have written to them today. Interesting to see what they will say.Cynthiahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11079633525599239876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-38241924353486246042009-06-01T09:34:51.753-07:002009-06-01T09:34:51.753-07:00I used a free template from themesbase.com and used the images with that, then get a letter from getty demanding £1000 - the site was for a school...they didn't care when i called them...Paulhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/18018544333960633355noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-2173928055878486782009-05-21T01:46:40.116-07:002009-05-21T01:46:40.116-07:00Just a quick message about our situation to try and put people at ease.<br /><br />I'm a freelance web designer and my main client had a letter from Getty demanding £1500 for the unauthorised use of two of their images on a web site I'd created a couple of years previously.<br /><br />I can't rememember where the images came from - most likely Google image search (lesson learnt there).<br /><br />First action - I took the images off the site straight away and checked all my other sites to ensure that any images with unverifiable histories were also removed. I replaced them with properly licensed images from Stockxpert.com, which are a fraction of the price of Getty (a quid for a web quality photo, for example).<br /><br />After discussing the matter with my client and searching the Internet to see what others' experiences were, we decided to do nothing. No explanations, no pleading, no acknowledgement, no replies whatsoever.<br /><br />This was a few months ago and we've not heard back from Getty.<br /><br />We did consider using Lime One solicitors, who I spoke to over the phone, but weighing up the pros and cons, doing nothing was a reasonable course of action (not to mention free).<br /><br />We share others' opinion that Getty are trying to intimidate people into a quick knee-jerk payment and are not interested in pursuing the matter to court, which would soak up any money they may make from the court case (I understand that the costs they can get in a small claim are limited and nowhere near what they'd have to pay their legal team). I'd advise others to do the same.<br /><br />Once you reply to them I think they may employ more effort to get money out of you. In that situation, paying £150 to Lime One to write a legal letter on your behalf might be worthwhile for your peace of mind and seems to have been succesful in putting Getty off their pursuit.<br /><br />There's certainly no need to panic. Getty want to scare money out of people for the least amount of effort on their part. If it looks like you'll make them work for it, they'll leave you alone and go for easier targets instead.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-56873735917994184572009-05-03T02:40:00.000-07:002009-05-03T02:40:00.000-07:00I received a letter back in Jan/Feb 09 saying I owed them close to £1000 for using their picture on my website - a site I paid a professional web company to design and host for me. I don't have the sort of money to pay 1K, its more a hobby business that makes a few quid a month - I wish I hadn't bothered with it now.<br /><br />No-one I speak to wants to know, Trading Standards weren't interested at all, Citizens Advice couldn't help, I tried to get a free half hour of legal advice from several law firms but as soon as they find out its civil they don't offer free advice. They want £250+ per hour. Have considered Lime One as they send a letter out but even that is close to £200 which is a fortune to me.<br /><br />Not sure what to do, Getty dismissed the only contact I have had with them which was an email saying I contested the invoice as I employed a third party to design/host the site saying I was still liable. Interestingly I am in the UK and they are applying Irish VAT?? <br /><br />I received a second letter from Getty last week (April 09) and if I ignore that I guess the next step is that they send the debt collectors after me. Not looking forward to that - does it mess up your credit history etc? Do they send bayliffs to the house?<br /><br />Am half tempted to get a loan to pay up as the worry is making me sick.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-37054730561879545472009-04-20T00:46:00.000-07:002009-04-20T00:46:00.000-07:00Thanks for info. Great blog you have here.Ruchihttp://www.wildnettechnologies.com/website-design.htmnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-13603220592715282372008-11-21T09:01:00.000-08:002008-11-21T09:01:00.000-08:00We are finding out more and more information about Getty that is only strengthening our legal position. Getty is now being sued by its photographers for selling their photos for $2.00 per image yet they continue to seek $1,300 per image from my clients. Wikipedia now has posted a memo showing that Getty knows it cannot get these "multiplier damages" yet it continues to seek these very damages in a letter to my clients. Getty has consistently shifted and changed its position in resposne to our legal position and we contineu to show flaws intheir approach. This last issue with the memo shows incredible hubris on Getty's part. With one hand they send a letter to us telling us they are entitled to get multiplier damages and with th eother hand they send amemo ot that states they cannot get multiplier damaegs wiothout great difficulty. Come visit us at extortionletterinfo.com to see the latest posts on this issueoscar michelenhttp://www.extortionletterinfo.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-28246013263499010952008-11-14T09:39:00.000-08:002008-11-14T09:39:00.000-08:00Minor correction for the above post - the image was downloaded in 2003, and accordingly to the US Copyright law, the civil suit needs to be filed within 3 years (at least that is how I am reading it).Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-21090696888544300682008-11-11T18:20:00.000-08:002008-11-11T18:20:00.000-08:00I also received a letter from gettyimages stating that I am using one of their images and should take it down and pay $1000. And if I pay within 14 days, they will give me $100 discount. I got that image from google image search in 2005, and I do not see any copyrighted watermark on that image. Is it possible that the image was later added to the gettyimages and now they are trying to exhort money? Although I have taken the image out from my website, I am really looking for suggestions to deal with this situation. Mine is a demo website, and I don't have $1000 (or $900) to give it to them for a single photo.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-86165108321161990512008-11-10T14:58:00.000-08:002008-11-10T14:58:00.000-08:00I received a second letter from Getty yesterday, demanding €4,500. I am not sure what to do. I see that most of the people posting here are from the UK and the UK law on copyright is slightly different than Irish. Does anyone have experience with the Irish copyright law, has anyone been taken to court in Ireland over this etc? Any help would be appreciated. <BR/><BR/>Just to mention, I can not afford to pay the above amount..Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-70812350619014029342008-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:002008-11-06T17:24:00.000-08:00Great blog!<BR/><BR/>I am even being charged $1,2000 AUD for a banner on my site that someone else supplied to me!<BR/><BR/>We emailed them and got an email back saying they were willing to negotiate a price.<BR/><BR/>I do believe they are using bully tactics to get large sums of money from little people and through fear these people pay.<BR/><BR/>For a great alternative to buy your images from only $1, go to istockphoto [singular]. You can email the copyright owner direct as well. I buy all my images and graphics from there.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-83413917350914629002008-10-31T05:06:00.000-07:002008-10-31T05:06:00.000-07:00Hi, Some very useful information here. I also had a letter from getty demanding £900. My tiny image came from google with no indication of who it belonged to or who it was owned by. Not being aware of any of the issues around this, I spoke to the legal department and they 'to my surprise' negotiated a deal and reduced it to £630...I paid! Having now read the posts on this site, I am going to report to trading standards and write to the police fraud department. I agree to copyrights and would always ask permission to use any images from the internet and pay but owner information has to be made available. What stops someone using my own images, submitting to getty and getty finding the images on my site and sue me??!! Thanks again folks, will let you know how this pans out.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-17689596134448753192008-10-20T05:52:00.000-07:002008-10-20T05:52:00.000-07:00Just had a call from UK debt-collectors Moreton Smith today. The thing is, I&#39;m not in the UK. They don&#39;t have any jurisdiction where I live. They don&#39;t even have bailiff powers in their own country. <BR/><BR/>The guy at the other end of the phone was mumbling and couldn&#39;t even get my name right. I gave up trying to explain that I hadn&#39;t received an invoice, and if I had, it should be considered contested. In the end I simply hung up on him.<BR/><BR/>The tiny thumbnail image in question came as part of a free Joomla template and had no idea at the time it was copyrighted by Greedy Images. As soon as I knew it was, the image was removed. <BR/><BR/>I&#39;m not paying Greedy Images a cent of their &gt;€2000 bill for this pathetic thumbnail, although when initially approached I would have been perfectly happy to full-size license the image at its normal cost, even though I did not knowingly violate their copyright and even though I work for a small, not-for-profit community organisation.<BR/><BR/>They don&#39;t have a leg to stand on and they know it. If they have any sense, they&#39;ll leave well enough alone. They can go to hell, and take Picscout and Moreton Smith with them.Shakedown Victimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-85584316630292654112008-10-12T23:48:00.000-07:002008-10-12T23:48:00.000-07:00Thanks for all your comments, I feel much better now!!!! I thought it was a scam but to be safe I have sought legal advice. I then googled "getty images scam" and was amazed at how widespread this is and how long it has been going on. I'm in Perth Western Australia and run a very small business that cannot afford to pay the demand especially for two images that cannot be clearly seen on the site let alone earn me any money!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-7416258847773077922008-09-14T19:55:00.000-07:002008-09-14T19:55:00.000-07:00It appears getty is in this for the long haul. We need to follow the advice of Oscar Michelen at http://extortionletterinfo.com/<BR/>Listen to the 2 MP3 files of the discussion he has and his advice to us all. We need to come together and push their stock prices into the basement with public discussions about their tactics and what they are trying to do to us all. Lets make this our Cause for 2008 and slaughter the giant HOG as Oscar talks about in his discussion. Lets come together on this and stop the insanity.CSnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-3160901931563426272008-09-11T04:03:00.000-07:002008-09-11T04:03:00.000-07:00Getty Images - We too had a demand in Guernsey GBG for almost £1000 showing VAT in Ireland &amp; payment to a USA bank - For a thumbnail size image of 2 men on a sofa that was used by our US web master on a tech web site. - JohnAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-55007900251461605332008-08-27T10:51:00.000-07:002008-08-27T10:51:00.000-07:00I have just had one of these for £1210 (£1000 plus Irish VAT at 21%) No VAT number... highly illegal! I find it odd looking at the posts in other forums that they are getting away with this and there has not been more action from both HMRC and Trading Standards. Perhaps we should start writing to newspapers or TV suggesting that they give the story some coverage too!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-1339119169846595542008-08-23T06:30:00.000-07:002008-08-23T06:30:00.000-07:00I&#39;m in UK, I received a letter from Getty demanding £1,210 just 3 days ago, I immediately contacted Getty explaining the mistake since the image was supplied to me by a friend who claimed it was his. They ignored my plea and demanded I make payment.<BR/><BR/>I have since sought legal advice and been told by a solicitor that I can not be held responsible for use of the image as the it was &#39;Accidental Use&#39; ie I was not informed of the true legal copyright and its applied terms and conditions.<BR/><BR/>Also by UK law a person can not be made accountable to any Terms and Conditions that they have not agreed to, so T&amp;C for RM images Getty manage do not apply if you did not sign up to their site and agree to them them.<BR/><BR/>I was informed to write a letter (write not email) to inform that by removing the image immediately from the website is sufficient enough and not to be contacted again for any demand for money.<BR/><BR/>If Getty persue the demand I was told to take it to Small Claims Court where it would fail to win due to my actions of immediately trying to rectify the issue sensibly and responsibly.<BR/><BR/>Obviously their is a limit to how much the demand is for for small claims so that will not be helpful to those who are being demanded to pay up a larger sum.<BR/><BR/>Hope this info is of use to other.<BR/><BR/>Fight it... You have nothing to lose IMO.Derekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04572251591845711989noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-70944160286764966952008-08-07T10:32:00.000-07:002008-08-07T10:32:00.000-07:00I've just got a Getty demand for £6500 for a third party designed site - just wanted to say thanks for all the postings - I thought I was on my own! Have spoken to a solicitor but having little feedback as what action to take or not to take. I was going to contact Getty to 'negotiate' but doesn't sound like a good idea now after reading comments. I have taken the website off however until we know what to do - like previous comments, it would be good to get update from older cases.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-92170672365449557312008-07-22T07:24:00.000-07:002008-07-22T07:24:00.000-07:00Just found this page and feel very reassured by all the comments. <BR/><BR/>I had already replied to Getty stating that i was unaware of any license on the images. My solicitor has told me not to pay them a penny and if it comes to it to go to small claims court and they would loose miserably. <BR/><BR/>I am now being called regularly by a premium rate number regularly but just ignore them. Im sure they will get bored before they get any money from me.<BR/><BR/>See you in court Getty!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-8613267127063204342008-05-27T01:45:00.000-07:002008-05-27T01:45:00.000-07:00They send debt collectors after me as well, I just ignored them and said see you in court, not heard anything for 12 months. I am in the UK so don't know if that makes a difference.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-17029440113387773922008-05-25T18:19:00.000-07:002008-05-25T18:19:00.000-07:00I'm in Canada, and I got a letter from Getty with a $4,000 bill last September. In 2001, an employer of mine gave me these images to use in an internal presentation. I posted this presentation on my website to showcase it in my portfolio. Well I guess Getty's robocops found it and apparently these images weren't licenced. The kicker is, this employer laid me off, then went bankrupt long ago.<BR/><BR/>Even though I removed them, I received one more letter from them in January but I keep seeing these posts saying to "Ignore Getty" because they didn''t send any type of warning. I thought they gave up but now they have hired a collection agency who sent me a copy of the letter and $4000 invoice. Now this dude is calling me.<BR/><BR/>Should I keep ignoring them or should I get a few hundred bucks together and contact a lawyer? As far as I'm concerned, I'm innocent because I was not aware that these were unlicenced, I was just doing my job.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-43796874188152051572008-04-14T10:40:00.000-07:002008-04-14T10:40:00.000-07:00see here<BR/><BR/>http://www.bloggingbuyouts.com/2008/03/19/those-suing-getty-images-may-need-to-be-thankful-a-buyout-came-a/1#c11615012<BR/><BR/>So, Getty Images, whose share price has fallen through the floor, making lots of shareholders very unhappy decides that it needs to boost it's revenues.<BR/><BR/>Answer: Send out invoices to as many people as possible as soon as possible and try and scare people into sending them money.<BR/><BR/>Very novel approach - lets hope that the share price goes down even more.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-44671420870843781362008-04-13T16:50:00.000-07:002008-04-13T16:50:00.000-07:00for germans who are scammed by getty:<BR/><BR/>http://www.getty-images-abmahnung.info/<BR/><BR/>are planning a class action lawsuit against getty.<BR/><BR/>fight those gettygangsters!gettygangsterhttp://www.getty-images-abmahnung.info/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-43312409618428229872008-03-19T08:39:00.000-07:002008-03-19T08:39:00.000-07:00I have also received these letters and chose to ignore them. I am now receiving emails and phone calls from a debt collector but so far have managed to ignore them also!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8638661114997731869.post-57417169228963999152008-03-11T02:06:00.000-07:002008-03-11T02:06:00.000-07:00hi,<BR/>i am in the same position as the previous poster.<BR/>i have been reading another forum, but all posts seem to have stopped suddenly earlier last year - up until that point the thread was going strong???? http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/printthread.php?t=390902&page=4&pp=25<BR/><BR/><BR/>i was wondering if any of the older posts could update us on their current situation.<BR/><BR/>many thanksAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com