Messages

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 23, 2013, 10:09:30 PM »

ideanj, did the photo of the celebrity come from any of the popular gossip blogs?  Did it have any type of logo on it?

My situation also involves a candid celebrity photo.  I'm a little different in that I responded to a DMCA complaint to my domain registrar instead of receiving a letter in the mail.  I wonder if I will receive a letter.

I don't know a lot about these guys but I have been reading around the forum.  It seems they might have lost a majority of their past endeavors.  I'm wondering if they are willing to now accept $250 from those who will cough it up rather than take a complete loss.  To all of the regulars here, does that theory even make sense?

The image in question for me was an untagged high quality paparazzi shot of the celebrity leaving a nightclub in L.A. which I had received from an online colleague, however I'm not quite sure where they had originally received the photo. The picture received a total of 2 unique views and was on my servers for roughly 2-3 months. It's funny because I can list about a dozen other fansites for this celebrity whom have the exact same photo, same dimensions with some being tagged with the fan sites own logo or untagged.

As I said before though, I have yet to hear back from the firm after I dispatched my original email and after all of the amazing advice I have received from the posts within this thread, I'm pretty confident I can disregard it entirely until the firm forces me to do otherwise.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 23, 2013, 08:28:45 PM »

galaga_z - what were your pictures of?  The fact they were willing to settle for $250/pic is an interesting twist to the whole Sanders saga.  Prior to this, they hadn't been interested in settling on fees that low, only going to court.

I'm also interested in your answer. My copyright infringement involved a celebrity leaving a night club last July. Also, just an update, even though I sent the law firm that one email the first day I received a letter, I still have yet to hear back from them. I'm just not going to worry about it and play it by ear and go from there.

Still interesting they were willing to settle for $250 a pop though. With this firm that's been unheard of thus far.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 16, 2013, 10:50:09 PM »

I appreciate everyone's involvement in this matter SO much! You are all putting me at ease knowing that not only am I not the only one going through this situation, but at this point in time it isn't the end of the world. One of my customers at work is a lawyer and suggested doing nothing until Sanders/BWP Media decide to file suit -- at that time, go searching for an attorney. I will be sure not to contact the law firm in any way shape or form until the point where I am forced to. (Hopefully I never have to!)

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 16, 2013, 12:11:20 AM »

Question, would it be un-wise of me to call the firm directly to see how much they are requesting for the settlement? The letter I received mentioned nothing of a dollar amount owed, only that I must contact them immediately. I'm just wondering if it's around the $500 mark I might just pay them off to spare myself the stress. However I'm worried that by opening a verbal dialogue with the firm, I will be doing myself more harm then good in terms of the future.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 15, 2013, 07:43:24 PM »

I REALLY appreciate all of you taking the time to respond to this thread. I'm completely freaked by the situation and as mentioned earlier have no way of forking over 1,000s of dollars to this firm/copyright holder. Any and all help is appreciated. I've spent some time scouring through the forums and have found very helpful information, however it's hard finding information regarding this law firm and BWP media because there's not much information available online.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 15, 2013, 06:17:52 PM »

Well so far I've sent an email to the firm explaining the photo was removed and the site has been closed. 2 days later someone from the firm responded saying someone will contact me shortly, so far nobody has. They never specified the amount for the settlement & I never received the complete document in the mail, just page 3 explaining removing the photo would not free me from the situation. Would you recommend I use oscars program? Or should I wait to see what the firms next course of action is? Like I said I've never been involved in anything remotely similar to this situation, so I honestly don't know what to do.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Need an opinion on a letter I received.

« on: November 14, 2013, 05:18:56 PM »

Hello,

I owned a fan site for a popular actress which was open for roughly 4 months. This fan site had a photo gallery which I uploaded various photos of the actress to. Yesterday, I received a letter in the mail from a Craig Sanders at Sanders Law, PLLC on behalf of BWP Media stating that I have uploaded one (1) unlicensed image which they hold legal rights to. The letter i received is *identical* to a letter webmaster Cary from fairfaxunderground.com (which you can find here: http://www.fairfaxunderground.com/forum/read/40/1260743/1260743.html#msg-1260743) received and posted about. Funny thing is I only received page 3 in the mail stating that removing the image is not going to solve anything. (The package they sent did not include the entire document.) Anywho, immediately upon receiving the letter, i removed said image and even went as far as completely shutting down the photo gallery and the accompanying fan site. (I received the photo from a friend and was unaware of any copyright infringements that I was committing by uploading the photo.) Also keep in mind, the photo in question had a total of 2 hits from users. I emailed them stating that i removed the photo and shut down the site, and have yet to receive a response from the firm. I've never been involved in anything like this and seeing as how it was a completely non-profit hobby to express my adoration for this actress, i have no money to shell out to the firm. I'm wondering what should I do? Anybody got some advice?