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.

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!

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.

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.

• http://gofundme.com/
• http://www.indiegogo.com/
• http://www.razoo.com/
• http://www.crowdrise.com/

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.

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

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.

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.