WARNING: Getty Images tracking unpaid image use on wesbites

WARNING: Getty Images tracking unpaid image use on wesbites

Author
Discussion

wheelerc

219 posts

141 months

Tuesday 2nd June 2015
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I'm a web developer and have been caught up in this. I used a designer to produce a design for a website for a client, and I incorrectly assumed the image was royalty free and the designer had permission to use it. My client (a charity) got a letter from Getty demanding 800 pounds. I ended up negotiating 50% payment with Getty.

If they had been chasing me I would have faught or ignored it but I couldn't exactly ask my client to do that, I was rather embarrassed to have not properly checked and have been much more careful since.

Pot Bellied Fool

2,125 posts

236 months

Tuesday 2nd June 2015
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DSLiverpool said:
Our blogger seems to have uploaded a Getty image and they want £1900 for it, we removed it as soon as we got the letter and I am not sure what to do next. £1900 for a picture of a baby crying seems a bit high - any pointers?
This comes up every few years - often it's a case that legitimately purchased images are singled out as they've since been bought out by Getty but at the time of purchase, rights were managed by another - used to be common when designers would buy a CD of 10,000 images etc.

I fully support photographers' rights but it's a shame that Getty's bully boys try this tactic on - it cheapens a reputable brand.

People sometimes negotiate and pay something for a quiet life - I wouldn't! So long as you remove the image when notified then they'd have difficulty getting much out of you in a UK Court - particularly if disputed - they're after the quick wins on a no win, no fee basis iirc.

Pot Bellied Fool

2,125 posts

236 months

Tuesday 2nd June 2015
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Although I'm an SEO geek rather than site developer, I do build the odd one for one thing or another and I always tend to put the photo rights info in the footer to help head this sort of stuff off at the pass. I also have in my T&Cs that client supplied imagery must be confirmed as rights free!

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Tuesday 2nd June 2015
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Cheers

MitchT

15,788 posts

208 months

Saturday 6th June 2015
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If you're a freelance designer and your client provides all the photographs for a piece of work which they want you to undertake, and one ore more of the photographs turn out not to belong to the client, is it the designer or the client who is breaching the photograph owner's copyright?

bad company

18,483 posts

265 months

Saturday 6th June 2015
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MitchT said:
If you're a freelance designer and your client provides all the photographs for a piece of work which they want you to undertake, and one ore more of the photographs turn out not to belong to the client, is it the designer or the client who is breaching the photograph owner's copyright?
Getty (or similar) will go for the client assuming the photo's appeared on their website.

DSLiverpool

14,670 posts

201 months

Saturday 6th June 2015
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The image they want paying for was actually in the Panasonic image library but edited to inc a pan phone in the library.
I've explained and offered £150 to go away
Let's see what happens

bad company

18,483 posts

265 months

Saturday 6th June 2015
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DSLiverpool said:
The image they want paying for was actually in the Panasonic image library but edited to inc a pan phone in the library.
I've explained and offered £150 to go away
Let's see what happens
That's £150 more than I would have offered. Was it a 'Without Prejudice' offer with a time limit.

Seriously they are best ignored IMO. Then they go away.

IATM

3,778 posts

146 months

Saturday 6th June 2015
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such a shame when businesses start to behave like this.
Scaremongering people into paying for something without providing proper proof that the money being demanded is indeed legitimate is a joke.

I tend to ignore all debt letters now, half of them are a scam the other half are a bluff.

We now have companies who set up fake or fronts which make it look as if a solicitor has sent a letter but they haven't, it is just an in house random letterhead they have made up.

Its a joke really.
on a related note I also feel very peed off with the fact that the onus for every single dam thing seems to sit with the end user/person. We pay accountants, solictiors, desingers, builders, surveyors to do their job and pay them well for it so they can check this stuff.

Day in day out I read threads about an end user/director facing issues because someone else has screwed up. Really baffles me.

cocker92

1 posts

187 months

Saturday 17th October 2015
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Evening all, I built a little site for a friend over 2 years ago. I used an image I thought would be OK that I got from Google. About a year ago we received 2 letters from getty. The standard ones stating we owed them money. Iv removed the 1 image from the site and its folder and thought that would be that. Yesterday however we've received a 3rd letter from atradius collections working on behalf of getty. What the he'll do I do now?... the letter was dated 1st October and we have 5 days to pay them, so that's date gone.
Should I do a letter to getty informing them iv removed the image and ask for an explanation of their prices and proof of their ownership?

Simon

Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Saturday 17th October 2015
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cocker92 said:
Yesterday however we've received a 3rd letter from atradius collections working on behalf of getty. What the he'll do I do now?... the letter was dated 1st October and we have 5 days to pay them, so that's date gone.
See http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

marshalla

15,902 posts

200 months

Saturday 17th October 2015
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They're pretty desperate. We had a warning email about an image embedded in a PDF copy of a presentation that was given 5 years ago, so of very little interest to anyone any more.

Unfortunately for them, we were in the process of revamping the whole site anyway, so now it's gone and they seem to have gone quiet.

Edited by marshalla on Sunday 18th October 11:19

bad company

18,483 posts

265 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
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Getty first wrote to my firm in 2010. We got the 'last chance ' letter from Atradaus in 2012. I kept asking for their proof of ownership of the image. They were unable or unwilling to supply proof then nothing for the last 3 years.

IATM

3,778 posts

146 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
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Snap! I am being chased too. I used one image on my website. The website has been down for 6 months so I have no idea how they managed to send me a lovely screen shot of it.

I got a letter 1 month ago, then 3 weeks ago, then a final warning. Ignored them all.
They now email me and that goes straight into the junk folder smile


Simpo Two

85,147 posts

264 months

Sunday 18th October 2015
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Finance Director of Getty Images:



(for those not in the know, the Wizard of Oz)

bad company

18,483 posts

265 months

Monday 19th October 2015
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IATM said:
Snap! I am being chased too. I used one image on my website. The website has been down for 6 months so I have no idea how they managed to send me a lovely screen shot of it.

I got a letter 1 month ago, then 3 weeks ago, then a final warning. Ignored them all.
They now email me and that goes straight into the junk folder smile
Lots of advice here:-

http://www.ukbusinessforums.co.uk/threads/getty-im...

On balance I would ignore them.

Pints

18,444 posts

193 months

Monday 19th October 2015
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Simpo Two said:
Finance Director of Getty Images:



(for those not in the know, the Wizard of Oz)
You should have used one of their own images.

biggrin

Burgeros

1 posts

95 months

Wednesday 20th April 2016
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They wanted over 1200 pounds from me, i sent few letters, they reply with their proposition 750. I ignored this and they called me. Asked to pay 750, after when I said no, he said 350, I said no chance and he said 150. After that I told him I will pay 120 and they accepted. Sorry about my english.

Ste1987

1,798 posts

105 months

Tuesday 28th June 2016
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Haha! Wish I'd seen this sooner. We've been caught out recently over one image. After going through the website blog I found I'd used several Getty images that I'd pulled from Google. Whoops!

Newc

1,846 posts

181 months

Saturday 30th July 2016
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From our "don't hand it out if you can't take it back" dept.

Photographer sues Getty Images for $1 billion for billing people to use photos she had put in the public domain:

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hilt...