We could get into a long debate about whether this is a "
https://malegislature.gov/laws/generallaws/parti/titlexv/chapter93a/section11" claim. That appears to be MA law, and copyright is federal. You'd probably have to discuss that with an attorney. But my guess is that an attorney would tell you he is not confident you could prevail under 95a. Certainly you would not prevail under 93a if getty did prevail in copyright court, and their winning in US copyright court would mean the claim was not spurious.
That said: your case seems to be one involving 7 images where generally people arriving here have only 1 or 2. Since you said you paid a lot for your site, I will assume yours is a commercial site. (I'm assuming this because hobby blogs rarely pay to have their sites professionally created.) The fact of using 7 images and being a commercial site makes the possiblity of a suit more likely that usual. If you are a corporation and this does escalate to a suit (which even with 7 images is not terribly likely, but it's not terribly unlikely either) you will need an attorney as that is required by law. (Indivduals can self represent.)
BTW: If you are incorporated, do not under any circumstances dissolve the corporation. That would shift liability on to you personally. So you don't want that.
I would suggest that in your circumstance, it is likely worthwhile for you to consult a copyright attorney-- and Oscar happens to have a letter program. I can't remember if it's $100 or $200. You might be wise to use his services. Among other things he can craft a letter that would not aggravate your situation, and after he writes it Getty has to communicate through him. (He's been pretty busy with cases recently, so getting on the program might involve calling his assistant and so on. But while Getty's letters indicate time if of the essence, history suggests this is simply not the case. And really, no judge is going to hold it against you that you took the time to arrange for legal representation.)
On the plus side: even though there are 7 images, it has generally been the case that Getty did nothing to ensure images were individually registered and so it's fairly to highly likely that damages would be limited to lost sales while the letter will wave around the scary threat that statutory damages would be likely. That said: Getty may have started cleaning up its act and being more careful about copying
or you might have happened to have used images that are registered. Getty Images does have a large number of celebrity images and I image they are more careful about registering those properly. If the are not careful, their photographers likely are. Without knowing more about the specific images, it's difficult to guess which category yours falls under. But I think in your case, I do suggest the "Oscar" route.
Topic: Just Received Getty Demand Letter (Read 4521 times)