Getty Images Cracking Down!
Out of context: Reply #11
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- _niko0
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I received letters from Getty Images so I researched the legal side of this in some depth including obtaining professional legal advice. Getty Images fails on a number of points, particularly with regard to the letters it sends to UK recipients.* Getty are issuing invoices headed with a US address, posted in London, with no VAT number but charging UK VAT. It is illegal to charge UK VAT without a UK VAT number on the invoice. HM Revenue and Customs takes a very dim view of this kind of malpractice.
* Getty claim it makes no difference that you didn't know the image was copyright, but they also cite the UK's Copyright, Design and Patents Act 1988. Section 97 of the very act they are quoting negates Getty's claim. See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/ACTS/acts…
* If it ever went to court, most of these claims (under £5000) would be dealt with in the Small Claims track of the County Court, and Getty would therefore be unable to recover its legal costs. It would be cheap for the defendant but expensive for Getty.
* Getty would have to prove in court that they have actually suffered the damages that they are claiming. This would be very hard for them to do unless for example you had been selling the image on your site and Getty had lost sales of the image as a result. Less significantly, Getty would also have to prove that they own the copyright on the image.
* Getty's invoices state that you have used the image over a specific period (e.g. 6 months). If Getty objected to your unlicensed use of their image, then they should have sent you a "cease and desist" notice when they (or Picscout) first discovered your use of the image at the beginning of that period, rather than intentionally letting you continue to use the image for months in an attempt to make you accrue a large (disputed) invoice in their favour. This point alone demonstrates that Getty's objective is revenue generation rather than copyright protection. Furthermore, deliberately letting you continue to use the image for many months could be construed as consent, albeit consent for the sole purpose of pecuniary advantage.
On receipt of these letters, many people are tempted to contact Getty for the peace of mind of a quick resolution, but this is the worst thing you can do and it will certainly not get you peace of mind. The most effective course of action is to ignore all correspondence from Getty. As soon as you make contact with them, that's when they become even more intimidating as they then know you're taking them seriously. Getty's whole approach is based on intimidation and bending the truth of the law, in the knowledge that many people will cough up without a fight. If you ignore their letters, they may eventually send round debt collectors (probably Moreton Smith). However, as they would have no court order, they would have no power to enforce payment or to remove goods. If you refuse to pay and tell them the invoice is disputed, there's nothing the debt collectors can do. They will have no option but to go away and eventually forget about you.
Don't be intimidated by Getty - just ignore them!
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