Copyright Infringement
I have been contacted by Getty Images and told that I owe them $3500 for three photos used on my website. I did not know the images were copyrighted and was never notified before the demand for payment. I was never told to take the images down from my site as their demand was the first I'd heard of the violation. Should I have been given fair warning to remove the images? Is their demand without such a request valid ? I live and work in California.
Re: Copyright Infringement
No.. Copyright infringement is strict liability. If you use a copyright protected work without permission, whether you knew or not that permission was required... it's infringement. $3,500 is probably a lot less than you'd pay an attorney to fight for you.
You MIGHT be able to negotiate a lower amount, if you contact them, agree to take-down the images, etc.
