Catalyst Complaint Cover Page

409646

Complaint
Number 409646 Date 5/30/2012 Status Assignee Actual Savings Amount Disputed Estimated Savings Closed Williams, David $0.00 $1,044.61 $0.00

Location Bellingham - Consumer Protection Division NAICS 541920-Photographic Services

Complainant
Name Kenneth Mors Larsen 201 Creek Side Dr Aledo, TX 76008 Phone Day (817) 441-2048 Phone Evening Email (817) 542-1189 ken@drystandard.org

Respondent(s)
Name Getty Images 605 5th Ave S Ste 400 Seattle, WA 98104 Contact Phone (206) 925-6753 Toll Free Email copyright.complian ce@gettyimages.co m

Referral(s)
Name Contact Phone Contact Phone Email

Practice(s)
Code 023 316 Practice Scare Tactics Billing Issues

Activities
Date Added 5/31/2012 5/31/2012 6/12/2012 6/12/2012 Activity Type Email to Respondent Email to Complainant Email from Respondent Correspondence from Respondent Activity R First Letter to Respondent To: copyright.compliance@gettyimages.com C First Letter to Consumer To: ken@drystandard.org

409646

1 of 2

RK-00638 PRR-2012-00283

Catalyst Report
Complaint Description
Description Getty Images just sent me a payment demand for $1044.61 for the use of an "unlicensed" image that was placed on my website www.drystandard.org by a professional website designer. The image was EXTREMELY small: 193 x 64 pixels. The web designer paid for the image - but when the website was handed over to me, Getty claims that the license was either voided or had expired. They did not ask me to pay for the image or to remove it. They simply demanded the ridiculous price for the "infraction". This is legalized extortion! Please close their business and unethical practice! Thank you. Expected resolution details: Close their business for fraud and extortion

RK-00640 PRR-2012-00283

AdaS

6/12/2012

From: Copyright Compliance [mailto:Copyright.Compliance@gettyimages.com] Sent: Tuesday, June 12, 2012 10:10 AM To: ATG MI Bellingham CRC Cc: Copyright Compliance Subject: RE: 409646 : A notice from the Washington State Attorney General'sOffice

605 Fifth Avenue South, Suite 400, Seattle, Washington 98104 Tel 206 925 5000 Fax 206 925 5001 www.gettyimages.com

June 12, 2012 Via e-mail to BelCRC@atg.wa.gov and Fax to (360) 738-6190 David Williams Complaint Analyst Attorney General of Washington Consumer Protection Division 103 East Holly Street, Suite 308 Bellingham, WA 98225-4310 Tel: (360) 738-6187

Re: Kenneth Mors Larsen Your File Number: 409646 Our Case Number: 1207217 Dear Mr. Williams: We are in receipt of the complaint filed by Kenneth Mors Larsen that you forwarded to us on May 31, 2012. We appreciate the opportunity to respond to Mr. Larsens concerns. By way of introduction, Getty Images is the leading creator and distributor of still and moving images. More than 4,000 images per day are licensed on our website, www.gettyimages.com, which features wholly-owned content (i.e., images to which we own the copyright), as well as
409646

RK-00647 PRR-2012-00283

exclusively licensed content (i.e., third-party contributor images which are licensed exclusively through us). Customers such as graphic designers, advertising agencies, and publishers license our imagery for a variety of purposes, including but not limited to print advertising, billboards, newspaper and magazine articles, brochures and websites. Our license information is clearly available from each page of our website, and we do not permit the use of our imagery without a license. Notwithstanding the license requirement, like other digital media companies, Getty Images does fall victim to individuals pirating its intellectual property. To combat this, Getty Images uses both employees and digital image recognition software to locate entities that have used Getty Images imagery without paying a license fee. One such entity recently identified as having used unlicensed imagery from our collections is International Dry Standard Org (Intl Dry Standard). On May 24, 2012, we sent Intl Dry Standard a letter with notification that we had found unauthorized use of one of our images on its website, http://www.drystandard.com. The image is part of Getty Images Rights-Managed Stone collection, #200152438-001 (the Image), and can be found on our web site at http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/200152438-001 . We informed Intl Dry Standard that use of the Image without a license constitutes copyright infringement, and that it must either (i) provide evidence that a license was issued, or (ii) pay a fee for use of the Image. In this instance, the fee was $1038.53, and we provided an invoice in that amount, which featured a thumbnail of the Image and its image number, along with a screenshot of the Image on the Intl Dry Standard website. The amount invoiced is in line with what typically would be charged for a license of the Image under these circumstances. We do not doubt Mr. Larsens statement that the Image was placed on the Intl Dry Standard web site by his web designer. However, as the end user of Getty Images imagery, Intl Dry Standard is ultimately responsible for ensuring that it has obtained appropriate rights to use the imagery. A search in our database yielded no results for issuance of a license for this image to end user Kenneth Mors Larsen, nor to his web designer Shane French. Getty Images has not issued any licenses to any third party which would allow for commercial web redistribution of the Image. At this time, Mr. Larsen has not raised any valid defenses. Regardless, it remains our hope to resolve this matter amicably. Getty Images has acted appropriately and in good faith in pursuing the unauthorized use of our intellectual property. Should you require any additional information about this matter, please do not hesitate to contact us. Regards, Getty Images Copyright Compliance

409646

RK-00648 PRR-2012-00283