Getty Letter, (RM) Images

[sherbears]

Hi everyone,

I am a newbie.  As pyro2xs, situation I also received (3) Getty letters (and emails) in regards to a (MR) image that I got from google images.  Shame on me for not understanding what I was doing, but alas I was ignorant.  I really did think that as long as there was no watermark the image was free to use.  Never looked into copyright and really had no clue as to what it really meant for us infringers. 

I've been reading the forum for over a month now, trying to find "ELI Defense Letter Program" success stories dealing with my type of situation, but can't seem to find any.  I am looking and hoping for any testimonials.

I manage a small business and used the image only to display a "package" our business was selling.  Because it was my ignorance, I am taking complete responsibility and paying for "hopefully" a final negotiated settlement, out of my pocket.  Getty is asking for $1140.  That's approx two weeks pay for me.  Getty image charges a minimum $695 for 3 months of use for this RM image I apparently infringed on.

I tried the Getty response letter recommended by artlawjournal, but I just received another letter that simply repeated the other letters.  I have done extensive research, including researching on copyright.gov, the photographer's website offering his stock images.  I could not find this image on either of these sites.   I'm not certain, but pretty sure I followed the instructions correctly on copyright.gov for search criteria.

I am interested in signing on to ELI Defense Letter Program, but would first like to know if this program has had success in (RM) situations?  I'm not asking for any guarantees.  But clients usually hire lawyers based on their success rate correct?  So I don't think I'm asking for too much before I pay the "upfront" costs for this Defense Letter Program. For all I know it could be a scam.

Any advise would be appreciated, thank you. 

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

I used the the program many years ago, and was successful, getty contacted us one time with a reduced settlement amount of which I refused, and the statute of limitations finally ran out.. granted my situation was different from your, as I did purchase the image in good faith..whereas you did not. I can tell you that well over 1000 people have used the letter program, and to my knowledge no suits have been filed. It is very rare that Getty will file suit over a single image, letter program or not. On the other hand there are no guarantees whether they will or not at any given time.

[sherbears]

Thank you Robert, any little bit of advice helps.  I did do some more searching on this site using other keywords and did find a few positive testimonials on the ELI Defense Letter Program.  I think I'm gonna go for it.  Wish me luck 

[Mojo88]

I am getting harassed by Getty for 12-year old web site images. The site was built by someone else, but displayed by my LLC server space. Getty wants $5k+, which is blatant legalized robbery to me. Since my LLC is little more than a placeholder, I am letting it go the way of the dodo bird. If Getty sues my LLC, then fine. I really don't care what happens or how much it costs in legal fees, I am not paying those crooked bastards at Getty anything. It's really disappointing that our legal system allows this type of bullshit, where a billion dollar company can go around terrorizing small business people. A pox on Getty Images. I'll make damn sure to never buy anything from them in the future. Maybe if enough of us start sending letters of complaint to our new President (who appears to be very much supportive of businesses), he might force revisions to copyright laws.

And yes, I signed on for the ELI Defense Letter Program. I did my initial call with Matthew Chan, and now retained Oscar Michelin. Both have been very helpful.