How many have been sued for use of one pic?

[cstockwell]

Thank you for your reply Greg.  The letter was actually sent to someone elses name at my address but it is for my website.  The name on it is from the guy who used to own the web address but it is now my site.  I have no idea what to do so after doing more reading here and watching the videos after my first post I will be contacting Oscar for the letter.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

It doesn't have your name on it??!!
little hard for them to collect from you then...return to sender comes to mind.. Clearly you have an "out" here. The site was owned by someone else who may have been responsible for using the image. You purchase the site...completely innocent infrinement, IMHO you re in a good position here.

[cstockwell]

Not so sure.  I know the guy it is sent to and I am friendly with him.  The website was changed by me and I added the photo after I had found a cropped version of the original on a search.  The photo never showed any copyright and was modified from its original (I found the original after getting the letter) from where I had found it.  I do not want this guy dealing with any problems from a photo I put up.  He lives in another state and hasn't had anything to do with this business in many years. I think his name still shows up on the whois search so that is likely how Masterfile sent it to him at my address.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

he is probably the "legal" owner of the domain name if his name appears as the registrant on the who is..chances are good getty may not want to even deal with you, as we have seen this in the past..

::EDIT:: Ultimately the domain owner is responsible, is what Getty will claim, thus taking you out of the picture and dragging another party into, in the hopes that they will roll over and pay..

[cstockwell]

Thanks Robert.  The domain is listed in and part of my account with a registrar along with a few other domain names.  I think somewhere along the line we forgot to remove his name after he transferred it to my account.  I just don't want to cause any headaches for him when he wasn't even involved. And this was from Masterfile and not Getty so I am not sure if that even changes how to deal with it.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

if the domain in question is the one associated with your email address, then you do not own the domain from a legal standpoint, regardless if it is in your account..the whois record indicates a completely different owner. Which could also be considered to be inaccurate whois, which could cause other issues as well with ICANN. If you don't want this other person involved, you might want to update the whois to show the proper info..then go from there.

[cstockwell]

Great advice Robert.  There seems to be a LOT of that on this site. 

[stinger]

You might want to sign this petition to help make our government aware of the issue.

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/work-modify-copyright-laws-end-predatory-practice-copyright-trolling/3cGn2JFL

And get all your friends and business acquaintances and their friends and acquaintances, etc. etc. to do the same.

It's an opportunity to have a voice about this issue.