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UK Getty Images Letter Forum / Re: Getty Images Letter
« on: March 08, 2017, 04:14:05 PM »
I would just ignore them, they are hoping you are will get stressed and panic with their artificially tight deadlines and that you will just hand over your money without a fight which is what they want after all if they can convince you to hand over £750 for the cost of a couple of letters that is a real win for them.
They do not care about you or the stress they cause they just want your money they are not doing from some high moral stance to protect the rights of the photographer.
You have not committed infringement, they may claim that you have committed an infringement but only a court of law can make that determination.
It is up to them to prove that you have infringed and that can only be done in court, it is not up to you to prove your innocence.
If you were to contact them and ask for proof that they are allowed to manage image on behalf of the owner and did not supply it then one has to assume they do not have the necessary documentation.
If it did go to court which is highly unlikely the fact that they did not supply the information when requested it would be looked on unfavourably by the judge.
Consider if I emailed you out of the blue and claimed that you had used one of my images and that you owned me £1000 pounds would you pay me the money, of course you would not, least ways not without some kind of proof.
One thing you have realise is that Getty is not an honest or reputable organisation as has been shown on many occasions.
Just because they point out that the image is on their website does not mean that they have the copyright or the rights to manage the image, you only have to look to the infringement claim Getty made against the Carol Highsmith accusing her of infringement by displaying one of their images on her website.
They really did screw up there as Carol Highsmith was the photographer who took the photograph and she donates her pictures to the American Library of Congress royalty free.
So they claimed they owned image that did not belong to them because it was on their website and attempted to extort money from the photographer who took the image.
It would have been great to see them get stuffed in court but unfortunately it was settled.
Getty will probably lose interest quickly if you do not communicate with them and they will get Attradius to try and frighten the money out of you.
However Attradius can do nothing as it is not a debt simply a claim, they may make a nuisance of themselves phoning you up demanding the money claiming you have committed copyright infringement but as it has not been proved in court they can do nothing.
If they do call just tell them you will not discuss it until you have spoken to your solicitor and keep saying that to every question they ask (it drives them crazy), do not try and attempt to get into a discussion as that is what they want, they will then try and wear you down to get the money out of you.
JUST ANSWER EVERY QUESTION AND I MEAN EVERY QUESTION THEY ASK EVEN IF IT IS ABOUT THE WEATHER WITH 'I NEED TO DISCUSS THAT WITH MY SOLICITOR' THEY WILL REALISE THAT YOU ARE AN AWKWARD BUGGER WHO IS NOT GOING TO GIVE UP WITHOUT A FIGHT.
Remember the more time they waste trying to get money out of you the less profit they make, so make it expensive to deal with you, a good trick is to demand paper copies of the documents.
With paper copies you can say they did not arrive so eventually they would have to send them recorded delivery (more expensive).
Do not communicate with them by email as that costs almost nothing, just use the argument that you want a proper paper trail with any accompanying correspondence.
They me phoned three times and I just stonewalled them so I guess they gave up with me and went to chase someone else who might be easier and cheaper to get the money out of.
Your best defence is to get educated about this by reading the ELI forums.
They do not care about you or the stress they cause they just want your money they are not doing from some high moral stance to protect the rights of the photographer.
You have not committed infringement, they may claim that you have committed an infringement but only a court of law can make that determination.
It is up to them to prove that you have infringed and that can only be done in court, it is not up to you to prove your innocence.
If you were to contact them and ask for proof that they are allowed to manage image on behalf of the owner and did not supply it then one has to assume they do not have the necessary documentation.
If it did go to court which is highly unlikely the fact that they did not supply the information when requested it would be looked on unfavourably by the judge.
Consider if I emailed you out of the blue and claimed that you had used one of my images and that you owned me £1000 pounds would you pay me the money, of course you would not, least ways not without some kind of proof.
One thing you have realise is that Getty is not an honest or reputable organisation as has been shown on many occasions.
Just because they point out that the image is on their website does not mean that they have the copyright or the rights to manage the image, you only have to look to the infringement claim Getty made against the Carol Highsmith accusing her of infringement by displaying one of their images on her website.
They really did screw up there as Carol Highsmith was the photographer who took the photograph and she donates her pictures to the American Library of Congress royalty free.
So they claimed they owned image that did not belong to them because it was on their website and attempted to extort money from the photographer who took the image.
It would have been great to see them get stuffed in court but unfortunately it was settled.
Getty will probably lose interest quickly if you do not communicate with them and they will get Attradius to try and frighten the money out of you.
However Attradius can do nothing as it is not a debt simply a claim, they may make a nuisance of themselves phoning you up demanding the money claiming you have committed copyright infringement but as it has not been proved in court they can do nothing.
If they do call just tell them you will not discuss it until you have spoken to your solicitor and keep saying that to every question they ask (it drives them crazy), do not try and attempt to get into a discussion as that is what they want, they will then try and wear you down to get the money out of you.
JUST ANSWER EVERY QUESTION AND I MEAN EVERY QUESTION THEY ASK EVEN IF IT IS ABOUT THE WEATHER WITH 'I NEED TO DISCUSS THAT WITH MY SOLICITOR' THEY WILL REALISE THAT YOU ARE AN AWKWARD BUGGER WHO IS NOT GOING TO GIVE UP WITHOUT A FIGHT.
Remember the more time they waste trying to get money out of you the less profit they make, so make it expensive to deal with you, a good trick is to demand paper copies of the documents.
With paper copies you can say they did not arrive so eventually they would have to send them recorded delivery (more expensive).
Do not communicate with them by email as that costs almost nothing, just use the argument that you want a proper paper trail with any accompanying correspondence.
They me phoned three times and I just stonewalled them so I guess they gave up with me and went to chase someone else who might be easier and cheaper to get the money out of.
Your best defence is to get educated about this by reading the ELI forums.