Need some advice on a Getty Letter

[123develop]

Hello Everyone.

I am sorry if I am the 1 millionth person to post a topic on a letter I received today from Getty. I have been reading many posts and watched many videos and I am not sure what I should do.

I am in between hiring Oscar but I am not sure if that will stop the problem or make it worse. Do nothing since it was 1 small image (It was a mistake it was ever added and I removed it off my clients site as soon as Getty contacted my client). Or try to call them again and tell them that this image will cost my business to lose a client and ask them to please understand.

So hear is my situation, I run a web development company and on one my clients sites was a small image that I guess what not licensed. Getty contacted my client and told him to remove it. My client then contacted me asked me what was going on. I then removed the image from the website that same second (this was 2-3 weeks ago). Today my client sent me the famous Getty letter and my client was mad and forwarded it to me. I called Getty on behalf of my client and me and told them that there was no problem and they should remove the fee. The guy said no but he will see if he can get this reduced from $875.

Now I got this letter "... $725.00 as full and final settlement of the demand that was recently presented to (clients name).  This offer is made conditionally and it will automatically be withdrawn if full payment is not postmarked by June 28, 2013".

Now I have to pay for it if I do not want to lose a client. Not worth it but I believe in keeping my customers happy, anyway I am so lost on what I should do next. Every post says something completely different.

I do not want to pay $725 that is outrageous. I honestly do not want to pay a dollar, but I am willing to pay up to a couple hundred just to end this headache. I am not the best writer as you may notice from any grammar mistakes in this post which makes this ten times harder.

Any advice??

Thank you in advance
 

[123develop]

One additional thing. All they have is a screenshot, I really do not feel that is proof. I mean for all we know is they took a screenshot of the website and then added the photo through Photoshop. There are so many possibilities I just do not know which route to follow.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

the easiest solution here is to hire Oscar on your clients behalf...will only cost you a couple of hundred, your clients will be happy that you stepped up to the plate and getty by law cannot contact you or your client.EVER.

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

I agree with Robert this would be your best solution as Getty will not deal with you and continue to pester your client.

[Mulligan]

You'd have better luck arguing with a dempster dumpster about haute cuisine than you would screenshots with Getty.

Since you're willing to go a couple hundred, hire Oscar and be done with the whole mess. That'll literally save you hours and hours of research and headaches.

If Getty were smart, they'd take a $200 settlement offer, but, no, they have to be greedy bastards who'd suck Miley Cyrus's dirty toes before they'd accept an overly generous settlement like $200 for some lame thumbnail image that they most likely haven't registered properly to begin with.

[123develop]

Great, I think I will hire Oscar. I am not clear on whether this will go to court or be resolved by hiring Oscar. Has anyone else hired him and did it work? I really do not want to go to court.

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Getty has only filed 1 case against a single image infringement, and believe me it was a handpicked case, one they knew would quickly settle, and one they knew would not go the distance...Chances are very good they will not file in your case, and in my opinion the odds are even better with oscar on your side..he has handled over 800 of these letters and not a single one resulted in a lawsuit. It's 200.00 well spent for the peace of mind and keeping your client happy!

[Oscar Michelen]

Don't know if you've come to the firm's letter defense program, but our letter usually ends all the harassment.