Getty Extortion

[Soyeong]

Someone I know is currently being extorted by Getty. This site contains the details of what's going on, but I'll quote a couple paragraphs:

Some time in 2005 - 2006, imaging companies like Getty and Corbis formed partnerships with a company called PicScout. PicScout developed a technology whereby bots trawl the internet, attach onto sites and compare images on websites to the images on the Getty and/or Corbis catalog.

When they find a match, they send the information to Getty or Corbis who then search their records for a license for that image. Finding no license, they then send out a demand letter. The rumor is that PicScout and the image companies split the revenue from the program, 50-50, but we've found no proof for that. From here on, I will address only Getty's pattern and practice.

The Getty Demand Letter

A copy of the letter is posted on the homepage. Generally, it tells you about the images found on your website and then shows you a screenshot of the image along with the copy from the Getty catalog where their image is located. They routinely demand anywhere from $1,000 to $1,400 per image. They provide a list of FAQ's which set forth that US Copyright Law is strict liability and lack of knowledge is no excuse. They provide a tight deadline for you to respond or they threaten that they will take further steps. A second letter then comes with a shorter deadline. If that is ignored or if no settlement is reached, they send it to a "collection agency," NCS Recovery, based in Sarasota, Florida.

What happened was a friend of his used a template that they had purchased to change some of the images on his web site. Since then this friend's computer has crashed and he no longer has the receipt for the template. Recently he received a letter with a copyright infringement claim against him with a settlement of close to $2000. He then removed the images from his site and contacted a site that makes backups to remove those images. Now there is nothing that traces the images to his site, but there is still a chance that they will come after him. He has talked to a lawyer he can hire for a couple hundred dollars to send a letter to Getty which basically means that they will have to go through the lawyer first. They can still come after him, but it makes it that much less likely. Still, it was a product that they legally purchased, so they haven't actually done anything wrong and shouldn't have to pay a thing. Has anyone heard or this before and/or have any advice?

[Little Shepherd]

Contact the company that sold them the template and get another receipt. Most companies keep records and should be willing to oblige. Of course, it really depends on what was included in the template and what specific functions it performed as to whether that's even relevant. If the images used weren't part of the template, well, your friend should have made sure they were public domain, or that he had a license to use them, or that his use fell within the bounds of "fair use"(which is one of the more fuzzy areas of copyright/trademark law) before doing so. If they were part of the template, he should have made sure the company selling him the template had the rights to those images to legitimately license their use to him.

[Soyeong]

Unfortunately, he doesn't remember where he got the template either. What they think happen was the creator of the images sold them to the company that produced the templates and then later sold them to Getty. The problem is that they didn't start with letters saying cease and desist, but sent out a bunch of letters to pressure people into paying these exorbitant fees.