Catalyst Complaint Cover Page

389888

Complaint
Number 389888 Date 6/30/2011 Status Assignee Actual Savings Amount Disputed Estimated Savings Closed Casteel, Roxanna L $0.00 $0.00 $0.00

Location Seattle - Lemon Law (Motor Veh. Arbitration) NAICS 541920-Photographic Services

Complainant
Name Coach 22 Bookstore c/o Tony J Stoltzfus 15618 Mule Mountain Parkway Redding, CA 96001 Phone Day (530) 247-1313 Phone Evening Email tony@coach22.com

Respondent(s)
Name Getty Images 2101 4th Ave Ste 500 Seattle, WA 98121 Contact Phone (206) 695-3400 Toll Free Email licensecompliance@ gettyimages.com

Referral(s)
Name Contact Phone Contact Phone Email

Practice(s)
Code 316 Practice Billing Issues

Activities
Date Added 6/30/2011 6/30/2011 7/5/2011 Activity Type Request for Review Reviewed Email to Complainant Activity thnaks for info. Seems like this R came up in case selection - would anyone want an fyi? Send Thank You for the Information letter. Holbrook to follow-up on CSG aspect. Csup Thank You for Info To: tony@coach22.com

389888

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RK-01227 PRR-2012-00283

Regarding Predatory practices of Getty Images, headquartered in Washington State I licensed a website building template sytem from a business in New York for resale to my customers. Those templates apparently include photos from Getty Images. Getty found one of those images in a template on one of our customer's web sites, saw that they did not have a license on file for the end user (which of course they wouldn't), and sent him a threatening cease and desist letter, along with a 'settlement demand' for a $1225 fee for the use of this single image. They asserted that he had violated copyright law, and told him he had no recourse but to accede to their demands. The customer licensed the image from us, and had literally no way of knowing or discovering where it originally came from. We in turn licensed the image from what we thought was a reputable company in good faith, expecting that they met the legal requirements necessary for licensing it to us. There is no way we could have independently verified whether or not all the images they sold us (most of which were heavily edited or combined into collages) were properly licensed. Here's the part I believe is predatory. Getty's letter claims they 'are willing to discuss the circumstances' surrounding what happened, but all they have done when we explain the matter is stick to their 'you broke the law and you owe us money' line. Although we removed the image immediately as they requested, and gave them the name of the third party we had licensed it from, Getty continues to pursue us, and has repeatedly stated that they will continue to do so until we pay. Whether we operated in good faith or not, whether we licensed the image appropriately from another party or not, makes no difference to them. While their letter says we only need to give them the name of the party with the license (the company we purchased the templates from), after we did so they continued to pursue us. In addition, they will give us no information as to whether they have even approached that company to discover if they do have a legitimate license. Their position is that whether or not this company is at fault, we still owe them $1200 simply because we displayed one of their images, even though it was sold to us by another company. To put their demand in some proportion, I could purchase a license to use an image of similar resolution to the one in question from istockphoto.com (owned by Getty) for about $5. The amount they want to be paid for use has absolutely no relation to the actual market value of the product. I believe these actions by Getty stem not from a desire to protect their copyright (we already complied with that request by removing the photo), but a barefaced attempt to make money by threatening small businesses owners who don't feel they have the legal resources to stand up for their rights, and so just give in and pay. The letter is designed to make people afraid, and to make them believe they have no other option but to pay, whether they are responsible or did anything wrong or not. From what I can gather on the internet, Getty has sent thousands of similar letters to business owners around the country. There are whole web sites devoted to what has come to be known as the "Getty Extortion Letter." If Getty has in fact sent thousands of these letters, and if a large proportion of the recipients have chosen to pay simply out of fear of legal action, Getty has reaped in the millions of dollars from unwitting small business owners through this scheme. I make my living as an author, so I understand the need to protect copyright. However, the law was designed to prevent unauthorized use, not to become a profit center of a large corporation. If Getty finds unlicensed images on-line, they have every right to ask the owner to remove them. However, to expect hugely disproportionate payments from end users who licensed the image from others and believe they have followed the rules is just gaming the legal system to make a buck at others' expense. Please take action to stop Getty's predatory practices. Expected resolution details: Send a cease and desist letter, and let people who comply go without penalty

RK-01230 PRR-2012-00283