My Response Letter to NCS

[stinger]

I don't understand why you guys get all this extra attention.  My case began with a letter from one of Timothy McCormack's underlings.  Nothing from Getty or a bill collector.  Is that a bad omen?

[Robert Krausankas (BuddhaPi)]

Probably not a bad omen, probably just further proof of how dis-organized, and sloppy Getty images is.. I hope I have included this underlings name on out running list, if not send it to me, as I would just hate to leave anyone out!

I don't understand why you guys get all this extra attention.  My case began with a letter from one of Timothy McCormack's underlings.  Nothing from Getty or a bill collector.  Is that a bad omen?

[Couch_Potato]

Looks to me to be a classic performance measuring exercise.

After initial contact from Getty trying to obtain settlement, divide the remaining claims between different approaches, see which ones bring in the most money so they can focus on that while still using the other approaches on a smaller scale.

How you get divided is probably pot luck and depends which 'copyright enforcer' your claim gets passed to.

[Moe Hacken]

This is a great conversation. The group is basically reverse-engineering Getty's "business model".

It's very credible that the varied "enforcement" tactics are arranged like focus groups. Or "fuck-us groups", if you will.

Newbies, DON'T GIVE IN. Educate yourselves and fight them. They only look big on paper, their minds are the size of peas.

Unless you infringed intentionally. Then you better lawyer up, beef up your negotiating skills, or move somewhere that doesn't have extradition treaties with the U.S. No one here has any sympathy for people who steal knowingly.

[stinger]

You already have my lawyer listed.  Let's see, I:

• skipped Getty
• skipped the collection agency
• skipped the paralegals, and
• went straight to an attorney.

I must have been very, very BAD!

[Mulligan]

Perhaps, they're split testing schemes to determine which pattern brings in the most money...

But that would require sophisticated thinking and tracking and statistical analysis, and judging from the quality of letters coming from Getty's compliance interns and McCormack paralegals high level thinking and intelligence is not a job requirement.

Stinger, mine was Getty then McCormack. Next I expect a round from NCS... or maybe from the Vatican. They haven't tried getting the Pope involved yet...

[Couch_Potato]

This is a business model. Any business model from a company as large as Getty will have an element of research & development and ongoing testing. I'm sure they didn't spend a lot of money investing in Picscout just to have a jumbled approach. There is obviously serious money in this approach so there must be at least a rough outline of a business plan.

Perhaps the approach is slightly simpler in that internal interns will take the first x amount of copyright cases, lawyers the next x amount and any spillage goes to a debt recovery company.

This is of course all speculative but usually there is method in the madness where so much money is involved.

[Moe Hacken]

You already have my lawyer listed.  Let's see, I:

• skipped Getty
• skipped the collection agency
• skipped the paralegals, and
• went straight to an attorney.

I must have been very, very BAD!

That's pretty funny. I wouldn't take it personally. These trolls just see us as a checkbook with a phone number and/or mailing address. They just try different things and maybe keep track of the mess they're making to see what works best for the least effort and expense.

[njb52]

This is closer to what I suggest:

AT RUSSO
NCS IP Solutions LLC
5975 Cattleman Lane
PO BOX 50276
Sarasota, FL 34232

Ms Russo,
I have received your request for payment related to your file #XXXXX.  Unfortunately I am not aware of any contract or civil judgment in the matter referenced against XXXXXXXXX and therefore we are disputing your claim and request for payment.  I do not owe Getty this money and there no debt to be collected.   Please do not contact me again in this matter.

Sincerely,
....

This reply is excellent. I was going to go into the same long explanation that I sent to Getty two times before, so this saved me a lot of energy. Thanks everyone for such great data as I slog through the process and continue to resist.

Happy Holidays everyone 

[Greg Troy (KeepFighting)]

Keep fighting!