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Services Getty Images

Discussion in 'General' started by twiddler, Apr 1, 2009.

  1. twiddler

    twiddler New Member

    Hi All

    Has anyone had any problems with Getty Images.

    Be aware that some graphics in the free templates are claimed to be copyright controlled from Getty Images.

    I teach web design as community education in the UK and downloaded the 'My Diary' template (chosen at random) to demonstrate to my class how to change the images, text etc. My mistake was to leave it unchanged on my server and recently Getty Images wrote a very nasty letter demanding £800 each plus Vat for two of the images in the template at the bottom. They accuse me of using unlicenced images for commercial gain and even though I wrote and phoned them to discuss the matter, I am guilty in their eyes and have to pay according to the law! The template is unchanged but was on my server which is good enough for them to claim a very unreasonable amount of money without proving anything in court. An amount which according to their site can go to $15,000 per image.

    It appears that thousands of these letters have been sent out and most people seem to agree that it is a very bad buisness practice and only serves to alienate future customers. Google 'Getty Images Scam' to read the hundreds of forum threads on this matter. There is no 'accidental' way you could get these images according to Getty and if you did it is up to the end user to check if copyright exists.

    I did point out that reasonably the images would be changed to your own if you did use one of the templates and that is what I did not do so how could I consider using the images or the template for that matter for commercial gain in that form.

    I have never knowingly used a copyrighted image, indeed, part of my teaching is to point out the consecquences of such an action.
    How ironic I am being sued for exactly that.

    Comments please

    Twiddler