$60,000!!! 
scampowl looks a right scammer 1 post on a number of forums about the same issue
pinch
salt
take
I wanted everyone to know.
I didn’t see anyone post that they were being sued.
Seems important to me to the discussion.
How did you get on scampowl?
sounds like you got stung there, good luck!
Can you post an update of your situation?
I have been trying to see if there have been any court cases in the USA where Getty has taken an individual to court to sue, but I have found nothing just a lot of posts from people saying Getty has been sending them demand letters and then escalating things to the point of having a collection agency contact them on behalf of Getty. I am still getting letters from the collection agency, but I have not paid yet. Getty wants $1,000 for the image and the same image is being sold on allposters.com for $129.00.
What I have found so far:
In Canada, it will cost Getty $75,000 to $150,000 in legal and court fees ALONE, to take anyone to court.
Thus said, they are obviously trying to scare people into paying them, but if they DO own the images, then they should get paid (just not the exorbitant amounts they are demanding).
I’ll keep you posted.
If the offender bought the image for $129, then Getty’s lawyers wouldn’t be involved. After the theft, they are being generous asking for $1000. They have costs that add up - lawyer’s are expensive! At $200/hour, or even $150,000 a year for a staff lawyer, Getty has to make sure they cover their legal costs and recoup the money AND make a profit.
I’m not sure I like how the courts are leaning toward Getty. If they sue you and YOU win, I think they should have to pay ALL you court costs, fees and for your time.
That said, if you really stole the images and can’t prove you legally obtained them, they have every right to sue you… or demand payment. It’s the same right you have if someone copies your copyrighted design and uses it on their site.
The best way to avoid copyright problems and legal troubles with Getty Images is to avoid using their images. Or at least that would seem to be the answer at first. You just ignore any pictures by Getty Images; don’t buy them, don’t use them on your website, and don’t copy them. The problem is it’s not as easy as that, and you might end up with a legal letter arriving with a demand for seemingly extortionate amounts for images and photographs of which you are accused of “UNAUTHORIZED USE”. In the words of some people who send out the Nigeria Scam “this letter may come as a surprise”.
Well, if you’ve stolen a photo from the Getty Images Photograph Library, then more fool you! Their images are copyright and you shouldn’t copy them! However, chances are you didn’t steal any images, at least not knowingly. What is more likely is that you fell into a trap. These traps are easy to set. What happens is that Getty Images is a company that allows some people to use their pictures on their websites, and then some other people steal them and publish them on free photo sites. You arrive in all innocence and grab a few images, and then GOTCHA! Getty Images can accuse you of stealing their photos and can charge you extortionate sums.
One of the more common ways to fall foul of this Getty Images mode of money-making is where you get a free website template and use the supposedly free images on it. Time goes by and long after the originators of the template have disappeared, along comes Getty Images and sends you a legal demand for a few thousand, probably for some postage-stamp sized image which you thought was public domain. So, even if you did nothing knowingly wrong, you’re being invoiced for a huge sum which you might not be able to afford. Well, what can you do about it?
piyush_kotadiya:
If you could offer some proof of your statement, it would help us in our court case.
I have just received a letter also from Getty and I am in Ontario. When is your court case? There is a person in Ottawa which is very interested in Getty (David Fewer, Counsel at the wonderful CIPPIC clinic at the University of Ottawa, who has agreed to keep track of these demands from Getty Images and to consider CIPPIC’s possible involvement. He can be reached at 613-562-5800 ext. 2558. His e-mail is:
If Getty after you? Help is just a click away:
I wonder how anyone is supposed to know whether or not an image is kosher for use on their site. There is no well-known method of checking.
I get that Getty and other companies are protecting their material, but if someone has a site designed by a professional web designer, who got the image from a CD, whose creator got the image from some other site, whose owner stole the image from Getty… how is the site owner supposed to realize that they are illegally using the image?
this looks more like someone also wanting to feed from the trough regarding all the hype provided by this GetYourEarCutOff fiasco
Has anyone been taken to Court by Getty? How long after the first letter did they get serious about it?
I am in UK and have just got the first letter. Should I just wait and see or negotiate? I have read in sitepoint threads going back to 2006 that negotiating is a complete waste of time and that in the past it just meant they came back to you for a second lot of money as they were successful in getting it out of u the first time.
Has anyone actually been taken to court in UK? Please do write and let us know so that we can prepare for the onslaught…
Hi, I’ve got a letter as well. Did anybody go to the Court?please reply
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You should probably create a new thread no?
The chances that the members that took part in this thread over 2 years ago are still connected to it are slim.