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1

Getty Images Letter Forum / Fake Lawsuit?

« on: November 02, 2017, 04:51:05 PM »

I recently received a copyright infringement and settlement demanding letter same as you guys. After reading this forum and researching by myself. I found this lawyer or photographer is not a typical pattern of extortion demanding as I can find in this forum (I may be wrong) and would like to share this info.  And get some your opinion.

Here are some facts I found.

1.   Photographer is in Europe and the representing lawyer is in Washington State. He registered only one image in March 2017.
2.   The allegedly infringed image has been widely available in Free Image or Free Background Image over 10 years  - searched in google image, meaning there should be plenty innocent infringement.
3.   They started to file lawsuits. I found 2 lawsuits filed from US Courts Archive. Both of them are filed in New York, October 2017. The representing lawyer in Washington State and the actual filing lawyer in NY are different. It looks like NY lawyer is hired or working together. I searched the actual filing lawyer and he is advertising as "No Fee Unless We win" on his website.
4.   The documents are not available for one case but the other case available in public site. I tried to contact this dependent but company telephone number (1-877-) cannot be reachable from my area. I also sent email found on the website but returned back “address not found”.

Are they filed a fake lawsuit to intimidate others who received the demanding letter from this lawyer or photographer?  I am not sure whether this photographer hired this lawyer or the lawyer found this photographer since his image may be a perfect source for the mass extortion demanding letter. I think the latter is the case given the facts I found in above. The lawsuit filing time is so fast, I found in this forum that Getty or other copyright infringement lawyers usually file cases in year 2 or 3 of limitation of the statute.

Thank you. I didn't reveal the actual lawyer name and photographer in here since I am not sure whether it's OK to write or not in public forum. Please bear with me as I am a newbie here and any advice or opinion will be welcomed.

2

Getty Images Letter Forum / Extortion Letter - Please Help!

« on: October 24, 2017, 10:13:11 PM »

I received an image copyright extortion email from a lawyer representing a photographer living in Germany, stating that I violated copyright law by using on my small business website. I was freaked out same as others but fortunately found this site.

They are demanding $2,000 for settlement.

1. There are several misspelling and I was surprised as it is a legal document. It’s not important though the fact that I may violate the copyright law unintentionally. Even more shocking, the evidence image they attached and the bottom description says that the owner is someone else, a different photographer who has several dozens of copyright registration for his images. I think this might be a minor mistake when they copy and paste from template document.

2.  The image they alleged that I used without proper license, is registered in US copyright office and the effective date is on March 2017. I can find this from US copyright office website and it is really registered. However, this is the only image file he registered under his name and cannot find whether the registered image is the one I used or not.

3. The calculated license fee screenshot for 5 years in accordance with 17 U.S.C. $504. I have no idea how they calculated but it looks like doesn’t matter.

After hours of research, here is what I found.

1. The image file can be easily replaced by many similar images and sold in istockphoto, Getty sites from $10 to $50 as usual.

2. The photographer registered only one image file but I cannot find whether this image is the one I allegedly infringed. When I searched his website and internet intensively, he is not a very active photographer and I can find only around 130 images his name on it. Also, he has about 30 images with RF in Getty website.

Questions and help from experts or experienced people.

1. What should I do? Do I better send a response letter acknowledging unintentional copyright violation and try to negotiate fee? If so, how much is going to be the proper value I should offer and pay to them?

2. The image is registered on March 2017 and they are claiming I violated the copyright law over 5 years, Are they going to be protected by copyright law for statuary damages and lawyer fee, even if I allegedly infringed the law before they register in US copyright office? 

3. If I ignore their claim or refuse to pay their ridiculous license and research fee, what is going to be odds I get sued by them? If it develops to an actual case, what damages am I going to have? Such as estimated actual damage I have to pay, court fee, and possibly lawyer fee. Like I mentioned, I never heard that German photographer name and seems not famous (checked his website and looks not fancy nor modern), wondering who is going to pay for those fees for such photos. Of course, this is only my opinion though.

Thank you for reading this long story but I am frustrated and desperate. I would really appreciate any help or comments.