Robert_Charlton - 3:39 am on Dec 12, 2011 (gmt 0)

I'm kicking this thread up, because last week a friend received a letter from Getty Images for use of 3 "buttons", as he described them to me, that he'd found somewhere... he's not even sure where... back in 2003, and used them on his website. Getty's demanding $3,000 for copyright infringement.

The Getty letter has been discussed at various spots on the forum, including a long discussion in this thread, in Supporters....

Getty images random legal letter
June 2010
http://www.webmasterworld.com/supporters/4149907.htm [webmasterworld.com]

What's frightening is that the Getty letter business model is more or less the same business model as the patent troll model.

Essentially, companies funded with venture capital (and therefore expecting a return on investment) are buying up rights to patents or images (as the case may be), then exploring who's infringing... ultimately to file larger suits against worthwhile targets. And it's hard to say who will be affected, because any image you personally can't vouch for might be a target.