New victim (UK) - used vista sample picture

[ScotVictim]

Hello everybody

I thought i'd post my current situation and seek some advice from you guys. About 6 months ago i made a website for my mum and dads B&B and i used creek.jpg on one of the pages (meant as a placeholder until i got a better picture!) and now my mum and dad have received a demand for about 960 quid (about $1800 at current rates!) for using the image. Needless to say, they are both distressed and worried about this (both are old age pensioners who run the B&B to supplement their pension) however at present i have advised that they ignore the letter until we can compose a suitable response to Getty. Neither they or I are in a position to afford proper legal advice so i've been scouring the internet over the last day or so to get as much info as possible but i can't find any other infringements caused by using an MS supplied "sample image".

Anybody fancy giving a wee bit of advice? Should i proceed in a similar way to previous victims and edit the sample letters to explain the source of the image? The letters all seem to claim that the infringed image came from a 3rd party which isn't the situation for us.

Please help!

NM - Scotland

[Oscar Michelen]

Yes, I would include the source of the photo in your letter.  You may also want to cite The Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (UK law) which says an innocent infringer does not have to pay if they quickly cease and desist. Take a look at some of the other posts on this site that discuss UK law for additional pointers.  Good Luck and keep us updated! .

[mandyb]

Hi there, just read your post, we have found ourselves in the exact same position as you, and have recieved the letter from Getty demanding £800, we used an image only as a temp until we could get a proper image. can you advise on where we could view the sample letters just to get an idea?
Really appreciate any help and advise on this, hope you manage to sort thing out. Best regards Mandy

[Oscar Michelen]

I would review the FSB forum site summary page.  This is a UK based forum on the Getty issue and the forum administrator "beedee" has posted a very useful summary.  We have a link to the forum on our home page. You should find lots of useful info their.  Good Luck!