Photo stock fears over New Getty royalty costs
The Drum has learned that Getty Images is issuing approximately 1000 letters per month demanding payment from companies which it claims are using images on their websites obtained from Getty without a licence.
The letters include a demand for payment based on an estimated “average” cost, and do not reflect the actual amount that may be owed in the case of any infringement. Getty has been issuing these letters for approximately a year and a half.
The practice came to light when The Drum learned that Manchester-based Hemisphere Design successfully challenged Getty over a payment demand for a licensed image that had been retained on the company’s website archive.
Hemisphere had been advised by Getty’s Licence Compliance Team that it owed approximately £3,500 for copyright infringement, despite the image having been sourced and licensed appropriately.
Getty maintained that the continued use of the licensed image on the archive part of the website rendered Hemisphere liable for ongoing royalty payments, a claim which Hemisphere countered by pointing out that the archived image was retained on the website as an example of the company’s artistic design work, which in itself became Hemisphere’s own copyrighted product.
This position was accepted by Getty, which agreed that Hemisphere’s use of the image was legitimate.
Sue Vanden of Hemisphere was concerned that companies which are not members of the Design Business Association might not be able to access the legal advice that allowed Hemisphere to successfully argue against the payment demand. She said smaller firms faced with a similar bill may judge it cheaper to settle the account without question, when it may not in fact prove to be payable.
Getty License Compliance team denied that its strategy was aggressive, stating that up to 85 per cent of all images used on the internet were not licensed.