Author Topic: Erin Brockovich vs iStock/Getty (Read 18085 times)

jjneff · « **Reply #50 on:** January 11, 2013, 12:01 »

Let's start with Social media and get that organized now!!! If Sean considers legal action then we can open a website for paypal donations and why he needs our support. I have already offered $$ for legal action and I don't have any images there. People this is a business practice that has to stop, they can do with with all of my video as well!! Now Lets get rolling on Social pressure first!

ShadySue · « **Reply #51 on:** January 11, 2013, 12:12 »

Have you thought about the unintended consequence of social media sending thousands more people running to get the Free pro files?
I'm sure those who have been scammed don't want their files disseminated more than they are already.

Silberkorn · « **Reply #52 on:** January 11, 2013, 12:15 »

Quote from: ShadySue on January 11, 2013, 12:12

Have you thought about the unintended consequence of social media sending thousands more people running to get the Free pro files?
I'm sure those who have been scammed don't want their files disseminated more than they are already.

Thats a valid point.

jjneff · « **Reply #53 on:** January 11, 2013, 12:17 »

If the pressure stops these kind of deals in the future then I don't think people will mind. This is a risk so if we do this it has to be done right! I won't jump the gun here as I am still waiting for a response from iStock. I would prefer to remain Exclusive but I am not sure at this point in time. For video at this point I have to. I am really hoping they choose a high road but my gut says they probably won't. I can promise you that if this blows over they will make a lot more deals in the future for good $$$ of which we will never see.

Pixart · « **Reply #54 on:** January 11, 2013, 12:41 »

Quote from: jjneff on January 11, 2013, 12:01

Let's start with Social media and get that organized now!!! If Sean considers legal action then we can open a website for paypal donations and why he needs our support. I have already offered $$ for legal action and I don't have any images there. People this is a business practice that has to stop, they can do with with all of my video as well!! Now Lets get rolling on Social pressure first!

Maybe an organized campaign starting here:

Let's pick a date and a time, spread the word and SLAM them. I don't use much for other social meda, are there more links?

https://www.facebook.com/istock?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/gettyimages?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/Google?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/Thinkstock?fref=ts
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor

Pixart · « **Reply #55 on:** January 11, 2013, 12:44 »

I don't know why I haven't been able to modify any posts, but I was trying to add that

https://www.facebook.com/groups/100998026660849/ might be a good place to ask for voices too.

lisafx · « **Reply #56 on:** January 11, 2013, 14:01 »

Quote from: Silberkorn on January 11, 2013, 12:15

Quote from: ShadySue on January 11, 2013, 12:12
Have you thought about the unintended consequence of social media sending thousands more people running to get the Free pro files?
I'm sure those who have been scammed don't want their files disseminated more than they are already.

Thats a valid point.

I agree, it is a valid point. But ITLR I think that a noisy social media campaign will deter commercial users from using the images because of the threat of being dragged into a potential lawsuit.

There is the danger of alerting students, people with personal blogs, etc, to these free images, but those folks are already pinning, file sharing, free(down)loading anyway. I don't think they've made up the bulk of our buyers for awhile.

The commercial users, are the ones we need to be concerned about because they are mostly the ones that have been paying to license images (up to now).

fotografer · « **Reply #57 on:** January 11, 2013, 14:03 »

I don't know if this has been mentioned but it's shocking that model released images can be made available like this.

elvinstar · « **Reply #58 on:** January 11, 2013, 17:28 »

Quote from: Pixart on January 11, 2013, 11:08

Quote from: elvinstar on January 11, 2013, 10:26
Quote from: Imgorthand on January 11, 2013, 07:51
Perhaps a kickstarter project for such legal action? To collect the fund pre-action.
I'm pretty sure the crowdsourced funds would be more than enough.

Beat me to it. With a Kickstarter (or something similar) project, we could potentially be supported by people that have never heard of iStock or microstock in general. There are plenty of people in the world that would contribute at least a small amount just to have such a huge injustice stopped.

It's great thinking but you have to offer something to the backers of a Kickstarter project don't you? I don't think you can just look for funding.

You're correct, but there are options out there for situations like this one. Here are a couple:

As far as giving something to backers, it could be something as simple as a sticker that says, "I supported creatives' rights!"

cathyslife · « **Reply #59 on:** January 11, 2013, 18:34 »

Quote from: Silberkorn on January 11, 2013, 12:15

Quote from: ShadySue on January 11, 2013, 12:12
Have you thought about the unintended consequence of social media sending thousands more people running to get the Free pro files?
I'm sure those who have been scammed don't want their files disseminated more than they are already.

Thats a valid point.

On the other hand, if nothing is done, Getty will continue to find ways to give away even MORE of your images for free. I am not affected, so it's easy for me to say, but even if I found 10 out of my 900 images affected, I would be ok with people finding and using those 10 for free in the short term until either social media stopped it or legal action was taken, knowing that I was stopping my other 890 from being used for free, down the road in the not too distant future.

ShadySue · « **Reply #60 on:** January 11, 2013, 18:36 »

Quote from: cclapper on January 11, 2013, 18:34

Quote from: Silberkorn on January 11, 2013, 12:15
Quote from: ShadySue on January 11, 2013, 12:12
Have you thought about the unintended consequence of social media sending thousands more people running to get the Free pro files?
I'm sure those who have been scammed don't want their files disseminated more than they are already.

Thats a valid point.

On the other hand, if nothing is done, Getty will continue to find ways to give away even MORE of your images for free. I am not affected, so it's easy for me to say, but even if I found 10 out of my 900 images affected, I would be ok with people finding and using those 10 for free in the short term until either social media stopped it or legal action was taken, knowing that I was stopping my other 890 from being used for free, down the road in the not too distant future.

True, and true.

cathyslife · « **Reply #61 on:** January 11, 2013, 18:36 »

Quote from: Pixart on January 11, 2013, 12:41

Quote from: jjneff on January 11, 2013, 12:01
Let's start with Social media and get that organized now!!! If Sean considers legal action then we can open a website for paypal donations and why he needs our support. I have already offered $$ for legal action and I don't have any images there. People this is a business practice that has to stop, they can do with with all of my video as well!! Now Lets get rolling on Social pressure first!

Maybe an organized campaign starting here:

Let's pick a date and a time, spread the word and SLAM them. I don't use much for other social meda, are there more links?

https://www.facebook.com/istock?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/gettyimages?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/Google?fref=ts
https://www.facebook.com/Thinkstock?fref=ts
http://www.calgaryherald.com/opinion/letters/letters-to-the-editor.html
http://www.calgarysun.com/letter-to-editor

what about twitter and tweeting?

michaeldb · « **Reply #62 on:** January 11, 2013, 19:20 »

Quote from: cclapper on January 11, 2013, 18:34

...On the other hand, if nothing is done, Getty will continue to find ways to give away even MORE of your images for free...

Absolutely.

IMO consulting a law firm which specializes in intellectual property is an excellent idea. Maybe suing Getty is a bad idea, but you will never know until you ask someone who really does know. I will be glad to be the first to contribute $100 to a fund set up for that purpose (not to an individual).

Apparently only one of my images was sold to Google (I have few images on IS because I stopped submitting there long ago and removed many of my images, and IS used to reject my best sellers anyway, which I now perceive was a blessing in disguise).

Now I want iStock to pay me 28 cents for every time my image was downloaded on the Google site. I will accept that as fair, although it is a much lower amount than my average RPD on other sites. And I want iStock to pay that amount or more to everyone whose images were downloaded from Google.

iStock/Getty is the Evil Empire of microstock. If they get away with this, 123RF and other agencies will soon be pursuing similar deals with media corporations from Adobe to Pinterest. I usually scoff at predictions of the end of microstock, but this is a real threat to the business we are in. Flooding the market with free images while paying us virtually nothing will surely end microstock as a way of making a living.

Blammo · « **Reply #63 on:** January 11, 2013, 19:37 »

One thing is for sure, if we continue to say that there is nothing we can do it won´t take long before our earnings equals nothing

rene · « **Reply #64 on:** January 11, 2013, 20:09 »

We can start by preparing well written, short document with all facts, explaining the issue. It could be useful as well for social case as for first contact with copyright lawyer. With participation of many person we are sure not to miss important things.

jamesbenet · « **Reply #65 on:** January 11, 2013, 22:29 »

Count me in with funding when available I have a few images in the MS deal and Google has several dozen. Over 1.1 million downloads in Microsoft alone. At just 10c a piece its over a 100k.

This is something that should be fought by all of us if we want to survive.

At 30c a download for everyone involved I bet several lawyers would be salivating for a lawsuit and get a 50/50 split.

somethingpretentious · « **Reply #66 on:** January 11, 2013, 22:48 »

Important topic. You should change the title. Its an international crowd and many will not get that reference.

michaeldb · « **Reply #67 on:** January 11, 2013, 22:51 »

Quote from: somethingpretentious on January 11, 2013, 22:48

Important topic. You should change the title. Its an international crowd and many will not get that reference.

Good point. And I think Erin Brockovich didn't sue anybody anyway, as I recall she just worked for an attorney.

This IS an important thread. I want a lawyer!

cathyslife · « **Reply #68 on:** January 12, 2013, 14:57 »

This is the main thread:

http://www.microstockgroup.com/istockphoto-com/google-giving-photos-away-free-for-commercial-use-and-istock-agrees/msg290099/?topicseen#new

Karimala · « **Reply #69 on:** January 14, 2013, 03:43 »

After spending months researching the possibility of a legal case and contacting numerous attorneys, I found an artist's representation/copyright attorney in California who believed in my research enough to be willing to investigate a class action lawsuit against Getty/IS on contingency (which is nearly impossible to find due to budget cuts impacting the entire court system, I'm told). I asked Leaf to set up a private forum for the artists whose images were involved to discuss a class action lawsuit, but the attorney advised that we don't discuss these issues on the internet (private or public), so we decided to abandon the forum. A further lack of interest from the 30 or so artists I privately contacted about the case eventually led me to abandon the entire project.

The attorney is still interested in helping us.

I can't say anything more on his advice (which is why I rarely post about it), other than we need 30-40 artists who are willing to sign on to a class action lawsuit. These artists MUST have common criteria to meet class action status beyond just being artists. All 30-40 artists must either have registered their copyrights or have not registered their copyrights...it can't be a mixture of the two. And all must have the same issue.

PM me only if you're willing to go the distance.

Poncke · « **Reply #70 on:** January 14, 2013, 15:36 »

^^So everyone is shouting they need a lawyer and one steps up, they all step down. LOL.

I am not referring to anyone in this thread tho.

Sean Locke Photography · « **Reply #71 on:** January 14, 2013, 15:41 »

Quote from: Karimala on January 14, 2013, 03:43

After spending months researching the possibility of a legal case and contacting numerous attorneys, I found an artist's representation/copyright attorney in California who believed in my research enough to be willing to investigate a class action lawsuit against Getty/IS on contingency (which is nearly impossible to find due to budget cuts impacting the entire court system, I'm told). I asked Leaf to set up a private forum for the artists whose images were involved to discuss a class action lawsuit, but the attorney advised that we don't discuss these issues on the internet (private or public), so we decided to abandon the forum. A further lack of interest from the 30 or so artists I privately contacted about the case eventually led me to abandon the entire project.

The attorney is still interested in helping us.

I can't say anything more on his advice (which is why I rarely post about it), other than we need 30-40 artists who are willing to sign on to a class action lawsuit. These artists MUST have common criteria to meet class action status beyond just being artists. All 30-40 artists must either have registered their copyrights or have not registered their copyrights...it can't be a mixture of the two. And all must have the same issue.

PM me only if you're willing to go the distance.

Research about what? What was this in response to?

lisafx · « **Reply #72 on:** January 14, 2013, 15:50 »

Quote from: Karimala on January 14, 2013, 03:43

After spending months researching the possibility of a legal case and contacting numerous attorneys, I found an artist's representation/copyright attorney in California who believed in my research enough to be willing to investigate a class action lawsuit against Getty/IS on contingency (which is nearly impossible to find due to budget cuts impacting the entire court system, I'm told). I asked Leaf to set up a private forum for the artists whose images were involved to discuss a class action lawsuit, but the attorney advised that we don't discuss these issues on the internet (private or public), so we decided to abandon the forum. A further lack of interest from the 30 or so artists I privately contacted about the case eventually led me to abandon the entire project.

The attorney is still interested in helping us.

I can't say anything more on his advice (which is why I rarely post about it), other than we need 30-40 artists who are willing to sign on to a class action lawsuit. These artists MUST have common criteria to meet class action status beyond just being artists. All 30-40 artists must either have registered their copyrights or have not registered their copyrights...it can't be a mixture of the two. And all must have the same issue.

PM me only if you're willing to go the distance.

This is great Karimala! I don't have images in the program, but if any of mine are added I will definitely get in touch about this.

I really hope people who are affected by this will follow up with you. A contingency basis means there's nothing to lose. Please step up and protect yourselves legally! If you don't do it now then it might be too late.

Karimala · « **Reply #73 on:** January 14, 2013, 18:26 »

Quote from: sjlocke on January 14, 2013, 15:41

Quote from: Karimala on January 14, 2013, 03:43
After spending months researching the possibility of a legal case and contacting numerous attorneys, I found an artist's representation/copyright attorney in California who believed in my research enough to be willing to investigate a class action lawsuit against Getty/IS on contingency (which is nearly impossible to find due to budget cuts impacting the entire court system, I'm told). I asked Leaf to set up a private forum for the artists whose images were involved to discuss a class action lawsuit, but the attorney advised that we don't discuss these issues on the internet (private or public), so we decided to abandon the forum. A further lack of interest from the 30 or so artists I privately contacted about the case eventually led me to abandon the entire project.

The attorney is still interested in helping us.

I can't say anything more on his advice (which is why I rarely post about it), other than we need 30-40 artists who are willing to sign on to a class action lawsuit. These artists MUST have common criteria to meet class action status beyond just being artists. All 30-40 artists must either have registered their copyrights or have not registered their copyrights...it can't be a mixture of the two. And all must have the same issue.

PM me only if you're willing to go the distance.

Research about what? What was this in response to?

Like I said, I can't say anything in public. However, I will say it's not about this particular program.

Karimala · « **Reply #74 on:** January 14, 2013, 18:30 »

Quote from: lisafx on January 14, 2013, 15:50

Quote from: Karimala on January 14, 2013, 03:43
After spending months researching the possibility of a legal case and contacting numerous attorneys, I found an artist's representation/copyright attorney in California who believed in my research enough to be willing to investigate a class action lawsuit against Getty/IS on contingency (which is nearly impossible to find due to budget cuts impacting the entire court system, I'm told). I asked Leaf to set up a private forum for the artists whose images were involved to discuss a class action lawsuit, but the attorney advised that we don't discuss these issues on the internet (private or public), so we decided to abandon the forum. A further lack of interest from the 30 or so artists I privately contacted about the case eventually led me to abandon the entire project.

The attorney is still interested in helping us.

I can't say anything more on his advice (which is why I rarely post about it), other than we need 30-40 artists who are willing to sign on to a class action lawsuit. These artists MUST have common criteria to meet class action status beyond just being artists. All 30-40 artists must either have registered their copyrights or have not registered their copyrights...it can't be a mixture of the two. And all must have the same issue.

PM me only if you're willing to go the distance.

This is great Karimala! I don't have images in the program, but if any of mine are added I will definitely get in touch about this.

I really hope people who are affected by this will follow up with you. A contingency basis means there's nothing to lose. Please step up and protect yourselves legally! If you don't do it now then it might be too late.

Exactly. If we can get enough people and can file a lawsuit, it will force an audit, which absolutely needs to happen.

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Author Topic: Erin Brockovich vs iStock/Getty (Read 18085 times)

jjneff

ShadySue

Silberkorn

jjneff

Pixart

Pixart

lisafx

fotografer

elvinstar

cathyslife

ShadySue

cathyslife

michaeldb

Blammo

rene

jamesbenet

somethingpretentious

michaeldb

cathyslife

Karimala

Poncke

Sean Locke Photography

lisafx

Karimala

Karimala

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