Now that you've taken it down, that should suffice. It sounds very fishy, too, cause normally from what I understand they first send you a letter explaining your violation and then tell you to remove it immediately. They traditionally do not shake people down for money right at the beginning. I'd definitely not pay a lawyer and I'd definitely not pay this company anything, not even if you bargained with them to lower the fee. It probably is some kind of scam.
The company has to first sue you in court to get a judgment, and that will cost them way more than the $780 they're trying to charge you. And going thru the suit process just for $780 seems very unlikely, since that would also take months. I'd just tell them that you've taken the image down now that you're aware there was a problem and if they want any more from you they'll have to file a lawsuit. If by some odd, small chance that this company is legit and they do sue you, it'll take months and months. Then you'll get a notice to appear in court (due to the amount it''ll probably be in small claims court) and at that point you can call the company back and negotiate for a smaller settlement if you want. But think about it....anyone can send anyone a typed up, legal looking letter thru the mail and demand money for some random infraction that may or may not be true. Naive, honest people and old people automatically pay it with no questions asked because they get scared that their credit will be ruined. And it's true that there isn't a debtors prison. They could be sitting at home trolling the internet or Facebook for beauty related businesses and sending hundred or thousands of people letters such as this. Think of the amount of money this alleged company or scam artist is making just if 10% of their targets pay up? You may want to also check this out on snopes.com where they list recent scams and such. Jill Wright Bowling Green, KY On Mar 13, 6:53 pm, Lauren Dodson <april392...@yahoo.com> wrote: > I got a letter today saying an image that I have on my website is copy > written and I need to send in $780 to Getty Images. It is a small photo of > nails that I pulled from the internet. I have taken it down and will try and > deal with them to pay less money. Anyone been through this before? -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "NailTech" group. To post to this group, send email to nailtech@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to nailtech+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/nailtech?hl=en.
