Hi there,
I am a Canadian Citizen but originally I am an immigrant to Canada and I happen to use images from the Google Images and I used them for illustration purposes on my blog as I run a blog that teaches about network marketing.
Honestly, I followed one of the leaders in the industry who I saw in a webinar grabbing the image from Google Images and I just thought it is ok to use. So, I started using them to illustrate a point about what I write on my blog. I didn't know anything and I never heard of Getty Images before until last November when I got my first letter from Getty Images asking for $2,650.00 for 3 images that I used. I was shocked when I got the letter and didn't know what to do at that time as I didn't make money with my blog as it is still new. All I did was I removed all the images from my blog and I contacted an online attorney and asked him and he told me that this is a common thing going on for a while and lots of people are going through this and he gave me a link to this blog post: http://excesscopyright.blogspot.ca/2008/05/watching-getty-images-watching.html
and they will keep sending these letters to you and I asked what am I supposed to do, he told me to read about it in this blog and just keep ignoring their letters unless they take you to court and the chances are minimal. This calmed me somehow but again I received another letter from Getty sometime in January and with the same threatening language and I ignored it again until last week I got a letter from NCS IP SOLUTIONS, LLC in Sarasota, Florida with the subject line: This is an offer of settlement and it also has threatening language that if I failed to pay they will initiate court proceedings.
I am so glad I found this forum and I am trying to educate myself as much as I can but I would like to hear from other canadians and how far it got with them. I am really sick to my stomach and this is affecting all other areas of my life. Please, if there are other canadians going through the same thing, please chime in with your experience and what to do at this time. Are there any canadians who have been taken to court for this. I would love to hear from you please. I am also open to any suggestions from non-canadians.
Very thankful for this forum and I will keep updating this thread as the matter progresses.
Thanks and Be Blessed,
NTawadrous
I am a Canadian Citizen but originally I am an immigrant to Canada and I happen to use images from the Google Images and I used them for illustration purposes on my blog as I run a blog that teaches about network marketing.
Honestly, I followed one of the leaders in the industry who I saw in a webinar grabbing the image from Google Images and I just thought it is ok to use. So, I started using them to illustrate a point about what I write on my blog. I didn't know anything and I never heard of Getty Images before until last November when I got my first letter from Getty Images asking for $2,650.00 for 3 images that I used. I was shocked when I got the letter and didn't know what to do at that time as I didn't make money with my blog as it is still new. All I did was I removed all the images from my blog and I contacted an online attorney and asked him and he told me that this is a common thing going on for a while and lots of people are going through this and he gave me a link to this blog post: http://excesscopyright.blogspot.ca/2008/05/watching-getty-images-watching.html
and they will keep sending these letters to you and I asked what am I supposed to do, he told me to read about it in this blog and just keep ignoring their letters unless they take you to court and the chances are minimal. This calmed me somehow but again I received another letter from Getty sometime in January and with the same threatening language and I ignored it again until last week I got a letter from NCS IP SOLUTIONS, LLC in Sarasota, Florida with the subject line: This is an offer of settlement and it also has threatening language that if I failed to pay they will initiate court proceedings.
I am so glad I found this forum and I am trying to educate myself as much as I can but I would like to hear from other canadians and how far it got with them. I am really sick to my stomach and this is affecting all other areas of my life. Please, if there are other canadians going through the same thing, please chime in with your experience and what to do at this time. Are there any canadians who have been taken to court for this. I would love to hear from you please. I am also open to any suggestions from non-canadians.
Very thankful for this forum and I will keep updating this thread as the matter progresses.
Thanks and Be Blessed,
NTawadrous