Getty Communications forms development partnership with IBM

Business Wire, April 7, 1997

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 1997--Getty Communications (NASDAQ: GETTY), the leading international provider of visual content, today announced the formation of a development partnership to create a digital image distribution system which will improve protection for visual copyright holders and speed the development of digital image delivery.

At present, IBM's market-leading Digital Library watermarking system allows a digital image to be visually identified as belonging to a copyright holder. Getty and IBM have worked together to adapt the Digital Library's modular design to the specific business needs of visual content providers. IBM has benefited from developing the product to fit Getty's diverse range of products from black and white archival to color contemporary photography.

Jonathan Klein, Chief Executive Officer of Getty, said "Content owners, like Getty and our suppliers, rely on rights sales, and the challenge is to protect our content as well, or better, in the digital world as in the analogue, without detracting from its visual appeal. As our clients choose new methods of accessing our content, we need to make sure that the rights of copyright owners are protected. We are currently planning several new on- line services for our clients and contributing photographers. Including an extensive on-line image protection system is thus very important."

The first results of this development partnership can be seen on the Getty website at Internet http://www.getty-images.com., where Getty has just launched Hulton Getty On-Line which makes available thousands of selected images from the Hulton Getty Picture Collection to customers via the Internet.

Getty Communications is the leading provider of visual content to advertising and design agencies, magazines, newspapers, book and new media publishers, broadcasters and other corporations. It markets reproduction and broadcasting rights to still and moving images through its international distribution network. Getty ADRs (each equal to two Class A shares) are listed on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol GETTY.

CONTACT: Jonathan Klein

Getty Communications

011-44-171-544-3456

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Jim Prout

Taylor Rafferty Associates

212-889-4350