Recieved a letter yesterday

[Cliff61]

I own a cafe in Southend-on-Sea and have a website, 95% of the photos are my own however I have (or had) two showing beer & wine. I got a letter yesterday from Getty asking for £715 & £800 + VAT, so when I got home I typed in "Complaints about getty images" and wasn't surprised to see this site. Having read lots of your messages, very helpful and I'll be making a contribution after this, I'm left thinking of two options.

1) Just completely ignore letters from Getty & debt recovery company. It seems from what I've read they can't do a lot and just play the numbers game that enough people will be worried and so pay them. My only concern on this is that a few years ago I remember a solicitor telling me you should never ignore a letter, always respond in some way.

2) Ask for proof that Getty own the photos, it seems quite a few of you have done that and they havent provided any. Also the screenshot they sent me also showed a couple of my own photo's, so dosent this mean they have infringed my copyright? Somebody mentioned this point and they had sent Getty a demand asking for more than Getty were asking them for, but never got a reply.

Anyway, this site helped me sleep last night, because I was angry as much as anything else, so thanks!

[justme123]

Hi there, I would completely ignore them if I was you. I'm going through something similar with ipprotection.net who work for Getty Images if my research is correct. I would advise you sign this online petition & spread the word about ipprotection.net too as they aren't so well known as Getty - http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/35814

[Cliff61]

Thanks for that, I'll sign the petition. My letter is from Getty images, 101 Bayham St, London NW1 OAG. Although they want a cheque sent to:  c/o Bank of America, PO Box 148, Sheffield. Nobody has signed the letter, just a space where you'd expect a signature to be.

[justme123]

Yes sounds like a generic letter like mine, the only piece of information that probably changes on them is the address to send it to. My latest letters have asked for payment within 7 days but they haven't even put the amount I supposedly owe them! The more & more research you do on these companies the more & more confident you feel in just ignoring them. It's extortion at the end of the day & the authorities should step in but it will never happen.

This is the thread I'm involved with just for you info - http://www.extortionletterinfo.com/forum/uk-getty-images-letter-forum/ipprotection-net-letter/

[Beanpole]

It's extortion at the end of the day & the authorities should step in but it will never happen.

Sadly probably true. I've approached Companies House and Trading Standards about the Getty letter, which seems to break laws that those organisations "enforce" (haha), and got nowhere. And in another thread here, MillyMollyMandy approached the OFT about Atradius, and they basically said "yeah, looks illegal, you should do something about it". It's like nailing jelly to the ceiling.