I_like_cock

Well today I got an ole' snail mail from Getty Images legal department. Apparently, a site I owned had a small thumbnail that was a Getty image that I was unauthorized to use.

The site the image is on is like 4 years old so I have no clue or remember where the image came from. Anyways... they don't care. They told me in the letter to take the image down and send them $1000 for infringement. I get a 10% discount if I pay within 14 days. If I don't pay... collection agency then legal action...

Anyways, this is just a warning to save people headache. Supposedly, they are sending these letters out on mass scale! Andrew posted about this on a thread on site point a few months earlier. I read it then and thought nothing of it... but it hits home when it shows up in your mailbox.

If you have been copy or even PS'ing getty or photodisc images I suggest you swap them out cus some people have been getting hit for over $20K. They also don't care about the "I had some Indian guy design this excuse". They are coming after everyone hard. Even hitting mom-n-pop business who have no clue how to design a website and basically putting them out of business. They are using picscout to scan servers. They base it $1K per image. Luckily, I just had 1, 75X75 px thumbnail...

What is scary about this is an affiliate network creatives could contain one of these images and if you host it... guess who is fucked!

I don't know if I'm going to pay it, have my lawyer send a response, or what yet. Still reading up and researching the whole thing.

To me it seems like major legal extortion to do this and not send just a C&D first.

How to avoid legal demands and trouble with Getty Images

90 page long thread here

Also, if you need stock images go here: stock.xchng - the leading free stock photography site

They are all free there and you'll ahve nothing to worry about.

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alexb

I think it's pretty sad when some shitty little business is doing so bad that they have to start suing for profits.

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I_like_cock

More information about this... this isn't a Kaveman-type high on princess diesel post... this is real shit:

The Getty Images Settlement Demand Letter: Reporting on the Extortion Letter Scheme

No Getty Without License -- Chilling Effects Clearinghouse Read the FAQ's they attach with your letter ex:

^ I imagine that effects a lot of people here... and after reading and researching this seems alot of people are getting scared then just paying up.

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ChrisS

Let us know what you find out. I can't imagine them just being able to send you a bill without a C & D first.

They would lose money if even a fraction of these people took them to court.

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"The courageous spirit of a single man can inspire to victory an army of thousands" – Chuang-tse

I_like_cock

Here is exactly how my letter looked:

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ChrisS

So I'm just curious, did you not have privacy on that domain? How did they get your address?

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"The courageous spirit of a single man can inspire to victory an army of thousands" – Chuang-tse

ChrisS

Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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"The courageous spirit of a single man can inspire to victory an army of thousands" – Chuang-tse

Jizzlobber

Tell them that you hired some designer in India on a forum to do the site and you don't know where he got the image, but you forwarded the correspondence to him and have not heard back.

If you need a name and an e-mail, I know of one curry and armpit smelling douchebag who fucked a few people on this forum.

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amanda11

Interesting.

Most of the time I get pics from flickr, cuz most people don't give a shit if I use their pic or not (most of them being stay at home moms, students, whatever)

Even if they care, they're too lazy to sue. Ha!

gdubs12345

thats f'd up, i use a ton of images on my sites, and i have no clue where they come from or if they are copyrighted.

I dont get how they can just send you a bill and demand payment.
That doesnt make sense to me, their images are all over the place.

Mr. Websites

Actually, I would say that it's best to ignore them completely. I hope you haven't already responded to their threat.

nachoninja

looks like they are just trying to bully people around

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Yaxxx

Unlucky man.

+1 for "ignore em" but if this dont work bs your way out.. somehow. Maybe tell 'em you sold the domain but when you transferred it your registrant details stayed the same and you'll email the new owner so that they can update their info. Then just fakenamegenerator it, or transfer to a new account under a proxy.

I don't know how domains etc work exactly in terms of transfers.. whether you can track when they were pushed to a new account, so check up on this beforehand.

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Yo Momma.

Jizzlobber

More interesting responses to similar situation.

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medicalhumor

I used to work for a hosting company and their previous web designer had put one of getty's stock images up unknowingly and they got served the same C&D letter. After having their lawyers look everything over, they ended up still having to pay the amount getty was demanding.

Soooo, for all you disgruntled web designers working for that company you hate and are getting ready to leave...

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adj. Valuing human life until birth.

BigWill

Are you seriously going to pay?

I would have lawyers rape their face if I got some stupid crap like that

subigo

haha... I got that exact same letter a few months ago. My reply was:

Dear Getty Images,

Fuck you.

Sincerely,
Me

Just ignore those idiots.

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BigWill

I call BS

Jon

From the looks of things, apparently I'm in the wrong business...

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barman

what a fucking scam they have going on.

just to be on the safe side, i always use istock photo ... $1 an image isn't too bad.

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Jon

Make sure to include one of their images with a smiley face on it.

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medicalhumor

I call BS to your BS

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pro-life
adj. Valuing human life until birth.

Aequitas

It doesn't matter they threaten the hosting company with legal issues and they will give up your hidden info before you can blink.

All my domains are on privacy but if I'm doing something bad they get right through it, the privacy thing is only to protect your info from the average user.

It does NOT protect you when your infringing or otherwise breaking the law.

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gdubs12345

i 2nd this from chris
this seems like it would protect you from what getty is doing
Online Copyright Infringement Liability Limitation Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I_like_cock

Yes, the domain was private whois.

subigo... have they sent you more letters? I've been reading they send 2 then turn you over to a harassing collection agency called NCS Recovery.

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andyt

wow, what a scam. guarantees I'll never do business with getty. I imagine they are getting really hurt from istockphoto/shutterstock/dreamstime.

ChrisS

So I read about this for the last hour and I was amazed that these fuckers haven't been slapped with a class action suit yet.

It's basically a scare tactic to get poor idiots to pay ridiculous fees (I found so many examples of people caving and paying them that I could puke). These poor assholes send letters back and forth until they think they are getting a good deal by only paying half. The fact that I_Like_Cock's letter offers a "one time fee of 10% off" for paying right now is just icing on the bullshit cake.

I saw hundreds of examples of this happening, but not one example of it going to court. A few people were actually sent to debt collections (that's the only thing I would be worried about). However, there are options for fighting that too. You can even sue the collections office for harrasment. If they contact you by phone they have FIVE business days to send you a written collections notice or they are fucked. Search for FDCPA or FCRA for more info.

It seems like entrapment for many cases. I.e you buy a template from some dude on elance and Getty sends YOU a bill for $3000 dollars a year later.

Anyway be sure to remove any images immediately. Do a search for "getty images lawsuit" or equivalent if you want to find out more. There's a shitload of info about this out there.

I'm with subigo, tell them to go die in a car fire.

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ChrisS

I think Getty owns Istockphoto now, andy

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"The courageous spirit of a single man can inspire to victory an army of thousands" – Chuang-tse

Sambi

Are these guys still living?! I thought they were dead...

droobleZ

This is gonna sound like a totally dumb question...
Royalty-Free means the images are free to use right? I can throw it up on a blog post or something without paying?

Never got into the stock images, but now I actually care after reading this.

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bb_wolfe

Do what these guys do

Just enter your registration using a $50/year virtual office in Singapore. When you get faxed/emailed a C&D, use the ole "please sodomize yourself with a retractable police baton." defense.

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subigo

Yeah, I did actually get another letter, but I ignored it too. I never did get anything from a collection agency though.

I don't so much care about my credit score, so the letter didn't really phase me. However, I did check my credit report a few weeks ago and there was nothing on there.

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BigWill

I doubt they want to report since what they are doing is illegal.

I_like_cock

I hear ya. I read on one of the forums that it basically bankrupted a business cus they hired some guy to do their site and Getty sent them this an demanded $14K and they settled for $8K and had to close shop.

Mine was addressed to my S-Corp... not sure how that would effect my credit or shit. talking to my lawyer in the morning.

I think its only a matter of time before they start to take heat on this. Although, it seems they have sent a larger amount of these letters recently. A story just came up on Google news recently...

getty images invoice - Google News

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Jon

The point of a C&D is that it acts like a warning shot. Saying that you have to pay a fee too is kinda outrageous. If you comply with the C&D then you're doing them a big favor too. So... why are people paying? Our of plain old fear?

Just remove the image, however old the site is, and that's all you have to worry about. Don't reply to them either, wait for them to come back to you (chances are rare). Collection agency? Bullshit. I can assure you they will not waste time and cash on chasing you down. They know they're going to get paid 100 times for every 1 person who refuses, more paid times even.

So overall I wouldn't sweat it. I've recieved enough C&D's in the last two and a half years to make a few rolls of toilet paper and only been sued once from them all. So I don't think you need to worry. Then again, I'm no lawyer, so maybe ask your attorney and see what he says if you really care that much.

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erect

we should rise up as one and slay them

ChrisS

I wanted to post a great pic I have of a guy with his knee on a rock majestically raising a sword over his head...but I'd get a bill for 15 grand in a few months.

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"The courageous spirit of a single man can inspire to victory an army of thousands" – Chuang-tse

erect

So ... class action by the entire internet for bandwidth theft? Anyone got an IP address or user agent?

Seriously, they've got a PR nightmare on their hands with this one. I hope they (don't) make enough for everyone to retire off this round of legal letters as their company is soon going to be a synonym for goatse on the internet.

blueoceanwave

send it back with "wrong address" written on the letter, even if you opened it

Jon

"This person is deceased."

Then write the address of a cemetary and plot # of an old uncle. Goodluck to them getting cash outta him! (make sure he didn't die before the internets was born)

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ChrisS

Send them a note that says "For eVery ScAm leTteR yoU send oUt, I wIlL kill a pHotoGraPHer ThAt uSes DramAtic shAding"

That'll scare the piss out of them.

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"The courageous spirit of a single man can inspire to victory an army of thousands" – Chuang-tse

I_like_cock

This is the best part of this thread... ChrisS admitting that he likes cock!

Now if I can only get Shawn Collins to put that on my AFFSummit badges instead of Wickedfir I_L_C....

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amanda11

Thats why you should rent a mail box that has a suite address that has no connection with your name or home address for your domain registeration.... (pay a college student to register for you)

Recommend reading:

How To Be Invisible By J J LUNA.

Read it 2 years ago, implemented the advice and never looked back.

LotsOfZeros

Actually, he likes underage jailbait cock.

I heard it from someone who heard it from someone.

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Rage9

I'd tell them to bring it and deal with the Collection Agency myself. You never signed shit so not like they have a contract. They really have no legal ground to stand on, even if it went to court.

Scare tactics are fun, suing a Collection Agency for trying to chase you down for some bogus shit is priceless.

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snavr

Classic bully tactic. Walmart pulls shit like this all the time ... you have to make an appointment to deliver product to their DCs. If you miss it and don't notify them they send you a "fine". Can be up to $1000 or more.

They count on the 'fraidy cats to just pay it, but all you have to do is call up the buyer you deal with and politely tell him to go fuck himself.

Lotta companies out there pulling shit simply because they know a certain number of people will just cave.

HarveyJ

People, just because a domain can have whois guard means you're protected.

If you want to make sure they can't get to you personally, buy domains with a pre-purchased, disposable credit card, and do it from an internet cafe.

Any of the domains I want to use for dodgy crap, I do that with.
No link back to me, unless they're investigations department is so good that they track the time in which the credit card itself was purchased, and where from, and then go get the security footage from that 7-11.

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_poto_

congrats on your first Getty C&D...

it's a big pile of bullshit, don't worry about it... just remove the image and ignore them...

if they try to send a collection agency after you, make sure you dispute anything they put on your credit report as fraudulent...

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LotsOfZeros

Even if a collection agency wants to try to go after you doesn't necessarily mean the credit bureaus will honor the agency's report.

I ran an collection agency back in the early 90's and we were a reporting agency. The credit bureaus actually denied our reports on consumer debt they deemed dodgy. Some of the accounts we were disallowed from reporting were gym and tanning memberships that involved a yearly membership contract where the consumer cancelled.

That threatening letter is totally baseless.

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"Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty" ~ Ronald Reagan

talzz2

That is Awesome to hear!!! I was apart of a gym where I paid in full for a year and went back for two additional months after my membership was up and paid out right with no contract... sent two different in writing cancel letters... 6 months later the gym closed down and apparently sold my membership to another gym as active.. they threatened me for 2 weeks before I finally SAID FUCK OFF Send me to collections Fuckers.. that was over a year ago and I have yet to see it show up on my credit but I am waiting!!!!

sorry didn't mean to change subject....