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Will You Be Sued for Your Graphics?

I heard some very disturbing info in my Membership Site Owner mastermind call this week.  Apparently Getty Images is sending settlement demand letters to website owners saying that the owners say are using their (Getty) images without paying for the privilege.  In a nutshell, what happened is that Getty sold images to a company (or perhaps more than one) in India who did not have authority to resell the images.  The India-based company did resell, them, however, and many appear as the images in website templates, banner ads, or website headers you may have purchased.

Those receiving the letters are told that they owe Getty Images thousands of dollars, but that Getty will "settle" with them for $1000/image.  Most people pay the settlement fee rather than paying to engage an attorney.  Now, Jupiter Images (owns ClipArt.com) is sending out similar letters, as is MainLine Inc.

Much more detailed info can be found on Matthew Chan's site, ExtortionLetterInfo.com.  Matthew has teamed up with attorney Oscar Michelen to help others defend themselves against these ridiculous claims. 

The main impact of this legal action is felt here in the U.S. because of our copyright laws.  If you're in the U.K., for example, you apparently have no worries..

Even when you try and do the right thing by purchasing your images to use on your site or in your materials, it's still not enough.  Sigh.

Who owns the word "entrepreneur"?

Entrepreneur Media (EM) , the company that publishes Entrepreneur Magazine (which I love, btw), is at battle again over the word "entrepreneur".  Now they're suing Ernst & Young (E&Y) over the name of E&Y's awards program, Entrepreneur of the Year, a contest that E&Y has sponsored for 20 years.

Ironically enough, the lawsuit stems from EM wanting to have its own Entrepreneur of the Year contest, and E&Y responded with a cease-and-desist order.  EM shot back with its own lawsuit, saying that the phrase was too generic to be trademarked.

I'm rolling in the floor over the irony.  EM has a long history of suing everyone over the years, from big corporations to Mom and Pop websites, over the use of the word "entrepreneur." Is this like the pot calling the kettle black, or what?

Most companies that EM sued for the use of the word have discontinued the use of the word to avoid a costly and protracted legal battle.

What I want to know is how can a word that didn't begin as a trademarked company or product name (i.e. Google, Kleenex, Xerox) be protected by trademark when it's it in the common lexicon of a language?

Perhaps EM is going to sue me for using the word in the title of this post.  I'll have to get my attorneys to take a look at it..;->