Note: I have gone back and edited this first message to include all responses and replies to date.On July 3 of this year I conducted an experiment just to see what would happen. I have already come forward and reveal myself on the Eli forums and I know that Getty monitors these forums so they are aware of me. In an attempt to end Getty's claim against me I sent them a letter outlining a campaign I was preparing to start unless they drop their claim. While not knowing whether they would react by dropping the claim, doing nothing or making some more aggressive move towards me I figured what have I got to lose as Getty is going to do whatever it wants. In true Getty fashion when I sent my letter to them I gave them a generous 14 days to cancel their claim before I started my campaign and I assured them that this was not an idle threat but a promise. Yesterday at the close of business was there deadline and I logged onto their site which still shows that I owe the money and are choosing to ignore my letter. I have just finished packaging up and ready to drop off in the mail tomorrow complaint letters filed with the Washington state Atty. Gen.'s office, the Ohio State Atty. Gen.'s office, the Washington State Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, my districts senator and congressman along with their Ohio State counterparts as well as a letter to the office of the president of the United States. I will also be working on sending out these tips much as April Brown has done in her campaign against team Linda trying to get on local and national radio and television programs warning people about the dangers of using images that do not belong to them or have been acquired from government sites. While on these interviews I will be sure to mention in addition to the warnings the business model that Getty has chosen to operate by in the way that they are attempting to extort money from individuals, mom-and-pop businesses and small businesses by using unrealistic and unenforceable deadlines for payment, refusing to provide proof of claim and the fear of eminent legal action.
In my letter I informed my Getty copyright compliance specialist Douglas Bieker of all of these things. I also told him that I knew the next step in the process should he choose not to release his claim would be to send the file over to NCS and out of the goodness of my heart and trying to save him time and money I was including a letter which he could forward to NCS along with my file explaining that this was a claim and not a debt, I have been trying to resolve this with Getty and they are never to contact me. I then informed Mr. Bieker that after NCS the file would most likely go to their lawyer Timothy B McCormack of McCormack IP law and that when he passes the file to him to please make sure he is aware that if I receive so much as one word from him or his pleasance legal staff without all the proof and documentation I have been requesting as to Getty's claim that a similar round of letters against Mr. McCormack to all of the recipients I mentioned above with the addition of the Washington, Oregon and Idaho State Bar associations which are the three states he is licensed in. Again as above these are not idle threats but very sincere promises.
My letter writing campaign will not end with this first round of letters. If I do not receive responses from the recipients above a second round of letters will go out within a reasonable timeframe, also since Getty has offered itself up for sale and there is a public list on the Internet a potential buyers a round of letters will be going out by the end of the week to all of the potential buyers warning them of the dangers in investing in Getty. They will be informed of Getty's current business model and encouraged to do Google searches as well as come and visit Eli to see how Getty treats people. As they most likely already know will remind them that Getty is currently facing a $12 million class-action lawsuit in Israel for the current business practices and momentum is growing for similar lawsuits in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. I will let them know that unless they are planning to purchase this company with the intent of cleaning house and correcting a failing business model that they may wish to invest their monies with companies that do not make a habit of trying to extort money and anger potential customers around the entire globe.
I will be posting my letters to Getty as well as a few of my complaint letters which are all pretty much the same but just modified to be appropriate for the person or entity they are being sent to for review. Please keep in mind that as a letter writer I have nowhere near the skill of a Matthew Chan but my goal was to come across as sincere and believable while telling my story in such a way that I hope the reader would choose to try to assist me.
I am making this experiment public as well as sharing my letters in the hope more people will join me and to show that you can fight back, if enough people are writing letters especially to the Atty. Gen.'s office, the Federal Trade Commission and their congressmen and senators then perhaps one of them will take notice and call Getty out on what they are doing.
Again I hope others will realize that as long as we sit back and do nothing, keep silent and not fight back Getty and the other stock photo companies that have chosen to participate in this business model will continue to thrive. With recent court rulings, sanctions and judgments the tide is starting to turn in the favor of sanity and while the stock photo companies are back on their heels and all of this is still recent and fresh I feel it is the perfect time for a letter writing campaign to see if we can get entities other than the courts to join into the fight.
Here are the Letters between Myself and Getty Images:
https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777294/Correspondence-with-GettyHere are copies of the complaint letters that I sent out along with any replies and follow-up responses. To date complaint letters have been sent to the Washington State Attorney General's Office, the Washington State Better Business Bureau, the Ohio State Attorney General’s Office, Congressman Michael Turner, Senator Rob Portman and the Federal Trade Commission.
https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777301/Complaint-letters-filed-against-Getty-Images
Topic: An Experiment Against Getty (Read 196764 times)