Getty Images

athlone.ie

Has anyone had an experience of settlement demand letters from Atradius (Ireland) on behalf of Getty Images?

blue4ever

Long and the short of it - if you're using a photo protected by copyright, then you have to pay for using that image.

blacklawlessd

One of my clients has recieved one ( I'm a web designer). I agree blue4ever, that using a photo protected by copyright requires payment, but in relation to Getty Images it is a lot more complicated than that.

Getty Images have been sending settlement demand letters to website owners who display images that they claim to own. The demand letters include demands for payment of very high sums - €750 in my clients case for an image she recieved from one of her suppliers who assured her that permissions were in place. I know of others who received demands for thousands.

Getty Images do not provide proof of ownership of the images, do not provide the mechanism by which they calculated their demands, call these fees a settlement ( automatic assumption of guilt on those they send the demands to), and write in an excessively threatening manner.

To date, there have been no instances that they have taken anyone to court - possibly because the act that they quote in their letters - The Copyright Design and Patents Act of 1988 also states that " Damages will not be awarded against an "innocent" defendant, i.e. one who did not know and had no reason to know that the work was under copyright" meaning that they are on very shaky legal ground.

Athlone.ie I see you posted your query 6 months ago, how did you get on with them?

woggy2006

Hi blacklawlessd, just wondered if you had any solution/advice to your clients problem. Having similar issues myself for an image on website.