Getty Images Inc.

Getty Images Inc., Seattle-based picture agency formed in 1997 after its precursor, Getty Communications, had bought the Hulton-Deutsch archive. Its aim was to make digitized stock and current images rapidly available over the Internet. Subsequent acquisitions included Gamma Liaison, and the Image Bank from Eastman Kodak, both in 1997. In 2002 Getty took over distribution of still images captured from CNN news broadcasts. By 2003 it owned c.25 per cent of the ‘visual content’ industry, with an archive of c.70 million still images.

Although firms like Getty and its rival, Microsoft-owned Corbis, represent an efficient solution to the tangle of problems surrounding picture location and use, their power in the market place has caused concern, and Getty has clashed with photographers' organizations over its contracts.

— Robin Lenman

Bibliography

• Hoffman, B. (ed.), Exploiting Images and Image Collections in the New Media: Goldmine or Legal Minefield? (1999)