October 11, 2013

Getty Images, Seattle 605 5th Ave South, Suite 400 Seattle, WA 98104 Dear Getty Images: I am sending this letter in response to the letter I received from your company, dated October 1, 2013, alleging an unauthorized use of an image on our company website. In the letter you state that the image used on website page is not public domain but belongs to Stephen Smith. I would like to thank you for bringing this to my attention and assure you I take this matter very seriously. As soon as I read your letter I immediately removed the image from our website and made sure no copies existed on the computer or backup drives. I have taken immediate steps to ensure that this will never happen again by notifying our web team and having them double check the source of the images. However, I am quite surprised as my web team sources our image, as a matter of practice, from the following Public Domain Image Resources list that I list in this letter. I sincerely apologize for this situation and was completely unaware that the image in question was copyrighted material. I was caught quite off guard, shocked and embarrassed by your letter as I thought I had taken adequate steps to ensure that this image was free and/or public domain material. I pay contractors for the services of searching for photos and specified, that all the images must be available free of charge without any usage restrictions, and inquired about the source of the images, to make sure that I am not in violation of any copyright laws. As a matter of practice, all our images are sourced from the following Public Domain Image Resources ... Wikimedia Commons hosts only freely licensed images, sound files, and other media. With over 18 million uploaded files, (as of August 2013), it is the largest free "images-only" repository. It contains many public domain images. Commons is the primary repository of media for all Wikimedia projects. Media on Commons can be used readily on all Wikimedia projects, just as if the media were uploaded to the projects directly. Media tagged with the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark can be found here:commons:Category:CC-PD-Mark Pixabay - 100,000 public domain photos and cliparts, exclusively under Creative Commons CC0 - free for private and commercial use. PublicPhoto.Org - Over 26,000 unique photos with a resolution of up to 4752 x 3168 px free for private and commercial use. PD Photo - Large collection of mostly public domain photos. Read the license for each picture before use; also, model releases may not have been obtained for all photos. Photos Public Domain Thousands of high quality public domain photographs free for any use, with no restrictions. Collections included are: textures, animals, nature, and a variety of stock images for any use, including commercial.
PO Box 220, Hillsdale, NY 12529

or Call 518 325 9318

CONTINUED PDPics.com Public domain photo collection with about 6500 high resolution pictures up to 6000x4000. All images licensed under CC0 license. BestPhoto.us - about 2500 free photos in various categories. Picdrome - growing Public Domain picture collection: no copyright, licensed under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. Alegri Photos - Public domain and Creative Commons images Public-Domain-Photos.com 4 Free Photos Public domain images. Public Domain Files Public domain pictures and clip art. PD Poster Public domain posters] Ars Publik - A great collection of public domain images from around the web, hand-selected for use in web and graphic design. RepublicDomain.com is a place for free public domain photos and desktop wallpapers. Phototeria.com The site presents a collection of public domain images. clker - Easy to search public domain images, directly usable in openoffice.org thepublicdomain - public domain images from various sources in one-a-day blog format. Free Photos - Small personal photographic collection dedicated to the public domain. Public Domain Footage - Public domain archival stock footage and newsreels. Open Galleries A community source of free photography, hosting several galleries with photos from all over the world. The Public Domain Review - A Blog by the Open Knowledge Foundation to easily access public domain resources. Freetems - Public Domain images, graphics and more, free without registration. Public Domain Pictures A large collection of high quality pictures for free. Possibility to contact the authors for original files. FreeStockPhotos.biz A large collection of Public Domain, GNU, Creative Commons & custom licensed stock photos and clip art. Good Free Photos - All public domain pictures of mainly landscape but wildlife and plants as well My Public Domain Pictures - A growing collection of amateur pictures released into public domain. You can use their pictures for any purpose and they do not require anything in return. Their collection includes travel pictures, pictures of animals and plants, background designs and many more being added everyday. They also include a collection of high resolution public domain pictures segregated according to topics including etchings of public domain pictures. The site also includes macro photography. 1 Million Free Pictures - All pictures covering various topics are released into public domain. These pictures are originally created by the owner therefore these pictures can be used for personal and commercial use.
PO Box 220, Hillsdale, NY 12529

or Call 518 325 9318

CONTINUED By using the image public domain list above, I am certain that my company takes proper precautions to ensure that the images, my company website uses, are in the public domain. Additionally, with a simple search, from all appearances, the image you question, in your demand letter, seems to be freely used by thousands of websites all around the world. You should note, that while searching for a Man Drinking Water you can find the image in question on countless > literally thousands of websites worldwide > see the link below ... https://www.google.com/search?q=man+drinking+water&tbm=isch&tbs=simg:CAQSYgkTtSPXJ BZSaBpOCxCwjKcIGjwKOggBEhS_1BrYGtQbCBrIFpQWrBaoF4QahAxogZlPKqGzHYTbAXVigdsTzdP mXkItatneXmRufyfZFRmcMCxCOrv4IGgAMITvzYckceDST&sa=X&ei=-4JYUveQOYf4APivoCIDA&ved=0CCgQ2A4oAQ&biw=1280&bih=666&dpr=1 By doing such additional research, it shows that the image in question, from all appearances, is freely used and modified by thousands and thousands of websites all around the world. Now, I would like to discuss the Settlement Demand portion of your letter as it is my commitment to resolve this matter amicably and put this issue behind us. I feel it is reasonable and appropriate to bring the alleged infringement of this image being on my website to my attention and ask for the image to be removed immediately, which I complied with fully. As we stated earlier in the letter, by sourcing the website images from the public domain image list above, I am certain that my company takes proper precautions to ensure that the images, my company website uses, are in the public domain. Any issues with public domain images websites showing the said image should be taken up with the list public domain image websites we highlighted above. I do feel that the request for settlement of $1,225, for one image that appeared clearly to me be public domain material, used believing it was such, and it was used on an extremely low hit count page, is totally unreasonable. In light of the circumstances, I feel any request for damages are completely unreasonable. From what I have read online, the standard practice for this type of incident when the alleged infringement is unknowing and unintentional is to ask for the image to be removed (commonly referred to as a cease and desist request) along with any copies, which was done in less than an hour after receiving your letter. Then and only then, if the image is not removed, or, the demand ignored, then damages are asked for. In this case you are going straight for a demand, which is completely unreasonable and not standard business practice. I understand it is your job to protect the rights of your clients which you have done; I have taken all the steps you have asked for and gone beyond what was requested by removing all images from my website not company owned just to make sure that nothing else like this can ever happen again.
PO Box 220, Hillsdale, NY 12529

or Call 518 325 9318

CONTINUED I request that we can both move forward peacefully, knowing the matter is resolved and consider the matter closed. I appreciate your time and consideration of this issue and my explanations. Respectfully,

Leslie Gabriel, WaterMan www.WaterCheck.biz

PO Box 220, Hillsdale, NY 12529

or Call 518 325 9318