So... I just became a member of this unfortunate club I'm very happy to see such a wonderful collection of helpful and informative individuals, despite the bad luck that brought me here!
My circumstances for admittance to this club are similar to what this user experienced (http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/image-used-was-from-google-images/), in that the image in question was located using Google Image Search. The letter from Getty is demanding $1,225 for the use of that one image and I'm quite upset.
You can still locate the same image via Google Image Search with the filter:
- Screenshot (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzL9drnWd2lGN09xOGQwbHpRQVU/edit?usp=sharing)
- Search Query (https://www.google.com/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&hl=en&as_q=cheap&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&tbs=sur:fc&biw=1516&bih=762&sei=eKcTUveFCbKl4AO6x4DICQ#as_st=y&fp=6d551adc3e62aac&hl=en&q=cheap+man&tbm=isch&tbs=sur:fc&facrc=0%3Bcheap%20person&imgdii=_&imgrc=_)
The main difference with my situation (other than the huge image price), however, is that I had things filtered by "labeled for commercial re-use" and the image was hosted on a site that a) didn't display any watermarks and b) included metadata distinguishing it as being up for grabs.
Because of these circumstances, is there anything I may be able to do? I've already removed all traces of the image from the site.
My circumstances for admittance to this club are similar to what this user experienced (http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/getty-images-letter-forum/image-used-was-from-google-images/), in that the image in question was located using Google Image Search. The letter from Getty is demanding $1,225 for the use of that one image and I'm quite upset.
You can still locate the same image via Google Image Search with the filter:
- Screenshot (https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzL9drnWd2lGN09xOGQwbHpRQVU/edit?usp=sharing)
- Search Query (https://www.google.com/search?as_st=y&tbm=isch&hl=en&as_q=cheap&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&cr=&as_sitesearch=&safe=images&tbs=sur:fc&biw=1516&bih=762&sei=eKcTUveFCbKl4AO6x4DICQ#as_st=y&fp=6d551adc3e62aac&hl=en&q=cheap+man&tbm=isch&tbs=sur:fc&facrc=0%3Bcheap%20person&imgdii=_&imgrc=_)
The main difference with my situation (other than the huge image price), however, is that I had things filtered by "labeled for commercial re-use" and the image was hosted on a site that a) didn't display any watermarks and b) included metadata distinguishing it as being up for grabs.
Because of these circumstances, is there anything I may be able to do? I've already removed all traces of the image from the site.