Stephen Bain wrote:
On 2/3/07, Guettarda guettarda@gmail.com wrote:
The article says that the rates are high, but within the normal range. If that's true, could on really make a case for extortion?
I would have to see the terms of the agreement, but I would imagine that Corbis/Getty etc. are offering forbearance [1] in addition to the licence for the image as their consideration, in exchange for the larger fee. That's not extortion, in fact it's quite common in commercial negotiations. -- (1) "Forbearance", in this context, means refraining from exercising a right to take legal action. It often appears in the context of a debt agreement, for example if A loaned $1000 to B, and B didn't pay the money back when it was due, A might renegotiate the loan agreement and offer forbearance (from suing to enforce the debt) if B agreed to pay, say $200 extra within a certain amount of time.
This all assumes that there was a contract there in the first place. The lawyer letters suggest that there wasn't. Agreeing to a contract after the fact may be poor judgement if it retroactively acknowledges a liability, debt, guilt or wrongdoing of some kind.
Ec