[MJH]

Just got a bill from getty images for unauthorised use of a picture of a cone on my website!!!!!

Great xmas present!!!!

Any similar experiences? no warning just a stupid demand!!!!

[matt]

write to them back and say that you got the image from a free image website

[MJH]

Someone built the site for me!!! but it states im responsible!!!

Don't know where the image came from!!!

[matt]

Someone built the site for me!!! but it states im responsible!!!

Don't know where the image came from!!!

shocking and i very much doubt it would get to court,

its been done before, and the website owner just said a guy down the pub built the site for him, he didnt know it was a image from them,

[MJH]

i can't quite believe it, its a cone for god sake it sounds like a scam!!!! but i have checked it and Getty are legit!!

[Oakley Windows]

Greyscale the image, Im sure an alteration/edit effectively renders a copyright null and void.
Im probably wrong, but a bloke down the pub told me that 

[matt]

Getty are a big image archive company

who built the site for you, they might have paid a license to use the image, the license are only about 50 quid ( if my memory is correct )

[MJH]

a friend built it its stressing me out

[Glyn H]

Unfortunatly Getty are very likely to follow up their demand with court action, they are I believe the Worlds largest holder of images.
I would you write and make an offer stating you were unaware of the infringement of their copywrite.

They will have had to pay the photographer/original owner for use and like any stock photograph organisation also have to pay the owner every time the photograph is used  the fee is from £50.00 upto thousands depending on the importance of the image.
Making the excuse that the photograph came from a free image website is certainly not an option, as they would know this isnt true.

[MJH]

How can they justify £1000 for a cone for god sake

[simon knight]

Not being fuuny but if you've used a bit of their imagery that has copyright then they are entitled to bill you....however....you are then entitled to require them to justify the amount billed.

Personnally I'd ignore them and their ridiculous bill....chances of them taking you to court on a scale of 1-10 are around minus 3 as it's not worth their while!

£1000 is their opening wishful thinking...they'd take £50!

But in the 1st instance definately ignore them.

[Oakley Windows]

Say the bloke whos site is doesnt live there anymore 

[chosker]

I am sorry to say this but this happened to me - charged £5000 for 3 photos that we hadnt even put on there - the web designer did. We settled out of court for a lot less as we only had the pictures up for a couple of months, but we did have to settle - their lawyers were on to us every week. Think we paid about £1500 in the end but luckily our web designer admitted liability in writing and so we made him pay half (he tried to get out of it but we had it in writing and sent it to him and he just paid)

Sorry this happened to you too - I would advise seeking some sort of not too expensive legal advice.

Good luck with it - don't let it spoil your Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! xxx

Claire

[MJH]

Thanks it's just what you need on 24th December

[chosker]

p.s. the pistures we used getty charged £200-500 for them, they are NOT cheap. some photos are different to others but ours were images of bugs on SEM very close up so pricey.

We ended up paying this initial cost rather than the £5000 as we took the photos off straight away and said that as we were not awar of breach of copyright this would be sufficient. They have a HUGE team of lawyers working for them, unfortunately

[Chameleon]

  I would check all the other photo's if I were you!
Woman on telephone!
Workers with poles etc!
Just to make sure

[Captain Scarlet]

Its simple to find duplicate pictures too. They use special search engines that can find duplicates of their own pictures. Theres plenty of free places on the net. Or subscribe to a facility.

[MJH]

I would check all the other photo's if I were you!
Woman on telephone!
Workers with poles etc!
Just to make sure

Its all going offline now!!!

[Niall McAllister]

the first thing is to get it off your site,  then at least you can try to claim ingnorance and say that as soon as it was brought to your attention, you fixed it

[niceandclean]

Did they send you a print out with the pic on your website with the time and date?