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Getty Images Letter Forum / Hiring my own photographer and getting the copywrite

« on: October 04, 2013, 11:19:33 PM »

Hello, a while back I got in trouble with Getty for putting on my webpage a tiny thumbnail of a photo I picked on the internet.  I won't do it again.  I decided after that to never use a stock photo again.   I'll generate my own photographs.

So I contacted a professional photographer to come in and take picture of my business and its product/service.   I have a rather unique product/service. This photographer sent me a contract in which they claimed the ownership and copyright of all photos.    After my negative experience with Getty, I am definitely not paying for photos that somebody else has copyright to.   So I explained to the photographer that this clause in the contract is unacceptable.  I said I need to own the photographs because they contain my business and product/service, so they contain my intellectual property.  The photographer sent me back a revised contract which now says the photographer still owns the photograph, but I own the intellectual property in the photograph.  This seems to me a distinction that doesn't make a difference.

Again, after my experience with Getty, I'm absolutely not going to put myself in a position where I need photographs for my business, and somebody else has the copyright to them.  I'll be telling the photographer, again, that if they want the job, then I own the photographs.

I did some search on the internet, and found out that photographers take their copyright very seriously.  However, in this case, the creative and intellectual content of the photographs that are going to be taken is almost entirely my content.  These photographs of my product/service would not exist without the product/service.

Any thoughts???  Sorry about the rant.

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Getty Images Letter Forum / Got letter. Question about my response.

« on: March 23, 2013, 07:02:21 PM »

Hi,
   I am the owner of a very very small business, that has never turned a profit.  A couple years ago, I copied some pictures from various places on the internet, and pasted them into my web page.  They were probably only seen by a few dozen people, and I only had them up for maybe a year. I later changed the name of my business, and abandoned this webpage and the domain name.  On my new website, I don't use any images other than those I take myself, which is a good approach for any small business owners out there who are reading this.

  Anyway, a couple months AFTER I took the pictures down from this now-defunct webpage, I got the Getty letter in regards to 1 image, asking for $750.  I ignored it.  This was probably two years ago. They sent me another letter, and then I got another letter from their collection agency, which has now also emailed me.  So I guess it is time to respond?

  A couple questions: First) Today, I did some searching and found the offensive image in the Getty images library. So, is there any point in my asking for proof of copywrite ownership, or is this pretty much a settled matter, in their favor?

  Second, the image I used was not much bigger than a thumbnail.  Should this be relevant if I try to settle with them.  Is the fact that I have never made a profit relevant?  How about the fact that this webpage hasn't existed for well over a year?

Thanks for any help.