People who receive the letters think they are "special" and will be "targeted" specifically. The reality is that most victims are rather insignificant in the big scheme of things. The reality is that several thousands of letters go out each year. A "wave of single image lawsuits" is entirely subjective psychobabble from people who are uninformed.
A "wave" of 10 lawsuits filed out of 3,000 letters a year (a conservative number) means there is a 0.3% chance of a lawsuit. 20 lawsuits would be 0.6% chance. 30 lawsuits would have to be filed to achieve even a 1% chance of a lawsuit.
The very fact that some have bought into the propaganda means that they are ripe to be picked. There are people who are naturally-inclined to be suckered and be a victim, hence, they settle quietly because they lack objectivity and the ability to be rational and see the big picture.
ELI has covered several topics ad nauseum. People's ignorance of legal understanding is the very reason why extortionists are upset that ELI discusses non-legal (vs. illegal) strategies in dealing with it. The Getty staff lawyers themselves hide out because they hate being exposed. They are too busy enjoying their $100K+ salaries. They use outside lawyers like "Beam My Ass Up" Scotty Wilsdon and Timmy (B. utthurt) McCormack as "henchmen" (notice the quote marks o great screenshot experts) to do their dirty work.
As has previously predicted and discussed, the 5 lawsuits were filed in a way to minimize expenses. Each of the lawsuits were practically clones of each other. But does the general layperson know that? Nope. Their reptilian brain says, they will be sued for $100,000 and that they will easily help themselves to every asset and account a person has. For the record, that is NOT how that works. ELI can only help certain types of people. For others, it doesn't matter what you say, they want to argue with us (the people who have watched extortionists operate for the last 5 years).
Many think there there is only one way to fight back (through the court system). Those people who think like that are the ones that become victims.
Even if Getty filed 50-100 lawsuits, there will be a field day in the media. No easy way they can pull this off and not get a huge amount of PR blowback. A casual view of dockets.justia.com corroborates what that the last "wave" of lawsuits consisted of only 5 boilerplate lawsuits. It wasn't a "wave". It was a "raindrop" at best, nothing close to a "wave".
ELI provides a lot of information, resources, and techniques to counter the Getty threat. But the truth is, all of what we provide is useless is if a person doesn't "get it". For some, giving up settlement money is a small price to pay. For others, like me and other prominent members of the ELI Community, we don't like being pushed around and being extorted. And guess what, we aren't pushed around. However, ELI is greatly hated by many in the copyright extortion industry.
Another wave of single image lawsuits is coming? Against small incorporated companies no doubt that can't afford to hire counsel AND pay Getty. (And incorporated companies cannot represent themselves which of course Getty knows and is taking advantage of). So far every company sued has settled apparently, regardless of the facts - even when the law was on their side (like the hotlink case Oscar just discussed). So basically it seems to make sense to pay on a single image alleged infringement at the first and lowest amount offered in the first Getty Letter (which by most accounts is under $900) if the potential defendant is a LLC or a corporation - because as discussed here it would cost more to fight it than to pay it. I surmise it would cost even more than what the letter asked for to retain any counsel at all (even Oscar) to even settle for that original amount they asked for. If I am wrong please let me know and why.
Topic: Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is (Read 12197 times)