An Experiment Against Getty

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Here is an update as to the latest in my letter writing campaign. I have heard back this week from the Ohio State Attorney Gen.'s office who declined to look at my information as they thought I was asking them to act as my Attorney. I am sending them a reply letting them know that that is not my intent and asking them to please look at the information and consider investigating Getty Images.

Just a note for those of you who are considering or have started their own letter writing campaign this type of response is not uncommon in should not be considered a setback. Any time I get a letter like this I will immediately send out a follow-up letter thanking them and asking them to reconsider.

For those that are interested I am providing links to the letter I received from the AG's office as well as my response.

https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777301/Complaint-letters-filed-against-Getty-Images

[Moe Hacken]

Great stuff, Greg. The transparency of your campaign makes a stark contrast with the secrecy the trolls like to operate in. Thanks for sharing your progress with the forum.

I did have trouble viewing the Ohio Attorney General's letter. For some reason I got a blank page. I was able to read your response to them; nice work lobbying for an investigation of Getty's "strategic litigation" model.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Thanks Moe and I will check the link and re-upload the document when I get home from work tonight.

Great stuff, Greg. The transparency of your campaign makes a stark contrast with the secrecy the trolls like to operate in. Thanks for sharing your progress with the forum.

I did have trouble viewing the Ohio Attorney General's letter. For some reason I got a blank page. I was able to read your response to them; nice work lobbying for an investigation of Getty's "strategic litigation" model.

[stinger]

Update on my letter writing situation:  I received a response from my Senator requesting me to sign a Privacy Act Release form.  Apparently they use this to speak to other government agencies about my situation.  I responded with the form and a letter further detailing my situation and letting them know that I included that only for informational purposes.  I do not want them to solve my situation.  I want them to find a way to prevent large companies and their law firms from using copyright law as a business plan against small companies.

I hope this turns into something more than just a paper pushing exercise.  I expect it could if we all wrote our Congressmen asking for the same thing.  When one person expresses an idea, they can just go through the motions.  When hundreds make the same request naming company names and law firm names, it might be a little harder to ignore.

[lucia]

Stinger-- Did you get the letter from Kirk? Or Durbin?  I was putting off writing until I heard back from getting again. But I could write one to which ever seems to be moving along on this.

[stinger]

Lucia - I got it from Kirk.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Moe,

I have re-upload the document and corrected the link on the post, the document should be available for viewing now. Thank you for bringing that to my attention.

Great stuff, Greg. The transparency of your campaign makes a stark contrast with the secrecy the trolls like to operate in. Thanks for sharing your progress with the forum.

I did have trouble viewing the Ohio Attorney General's letter. For some reason I got a blank page. I was able to read your response to them; nice work lobbying for an investigation of Getty's "strategic litigation" model.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

lucia,

If you're going to write a letter to your Congressman or whoever I would recommend approaching the letter from the angle that what Getty is doing is extortion since they refuse to provide proof, threaten legal action and harass. I would also name in addition to Getty Images who ever your Getty copyright compliance penpal is. I think you will find this may give you the best results in the most bang for your buck.

Stinger-- Did you get the letter from Kirk? Or Durbin?  I was putting off writing until I heard back from getting again. But I could write one to which ever seems to be moving along on this.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Tonight I also received a letter from the Washington State Atty. Gen.'s office stating that Getty has replied to my complaint. What is interesting is that this is the exact same response letter that they sent to the Washington state Better Business Bureau. I know this as this letter has the same to errors in it that their reply to the Better Business Bureau had. The first error is they have my company name wrong in the second error is once again they have the demand amount wrong. In their response they are claiming their demand amount is $8750 as opposed to the actual demand amount of $875.

This just shows the lack of concern and how frivolously Getty Images and their copyright compliance team members Douglas Bieker and the rest take these complaints from the Atty. Gen.'s office and the Better Business Bureau that they can't even take the time to proofread their responses.

Below if you are interested is the link to the reply as well as my response.

https://www.scribd.com/collections/3777294/Correspondence-with-Getty

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Typical form letter from Getty, skirting the issues, not addressing anything, and claiming the recipient has shown no valid defenses.. I think it's high time we put on our collective thinking caps and conatct the Attorney General himself ( not his clerks) I may be calling April Brown on this, she lives near Seattle, it's an election year, and the AG would surely like another vote, he might just speak with her...Just need to get a solid plan of action together. IT's time that someone, somewhere look into the fact that Getty Images continues to avoid backing up their claims.

[stinger]

Robert, I like the way you think!

[Khan]

And do not forget to inform the media that you are going to speak with her

Khan

[danaisle]

Hi Folks! Just wrote to my senators. Feel free to copy and paste if you like:

Dear Sen. XXX,

I am writing to bring to your attention an egregious practice of habitual extortion against small businesses by the photo archive company known as Getty Images. These people search web sites for images that may or may not be theirs, and threaten people like myself, demanding huge amounts of money for damages and copyright violations without any proof of their claims. This is not an isolated incident. Thousands of small businesses are continually harassed by these people without cause or evidence.

Getty Images' abuse of copyright law to attempt extortion of funds from honest small business owners like myself is predatory and a huge waste of time and resources, having to answer to unsubstantiated charges and defending our businesses and reputations.

I would be happy to provide you with further information and resources to pursue this. I sincerely hope someone will. This has depleted the energies of thousands of people, hindering the productivity and quality of life honest, hard-working business people.

Thanks for your attention in this matter.

Sincerely,

[gtilflm]

Hi all.  Long-time reader, first time poster......

I too sent a complaint to the WA ATG and received a response back from Getty.  It seemed to be somewhat of a form letter, but there were specific details filled in.  Of course, no proof of copyright ownership/representation or an explanation of their demand amount, but that goes without saying. 

Is there a way to find out how many claims have been filed against them with the ATG office?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Hi all.  Long-time reader, first time poster......

I too sent a complaint to the WA ATG and received a response back from Getty.  It seemed to be somewhat of a form letter, but there were specific details filled in.  Of course, no proof of copyright ownership/representation or an explanation of their demand amount, but that goes without saying. 

Is there a way to find out how many claims have been filed against them with the ATG office?

AS recent as May of this year there have been almost 60 complaints files, you can find them all here:
http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/getty-images-complaints-on-a-silver-platter/

yes Getty always answers with a generic form letter, and never gives any proof of the claim..typical behavior.. Depending on when you filed your complaint it just might be in this bunch