Honestly, I hope she wins, and then donates a huge chunk of it to some worthy cause just to further piss on Getty.
It's okay that Getty lists high quality images that are public domain or restriction free as part of their search engine, but it is beyond ethically wrong to charge money for them.
Why is it unethical to charge for public domain images?
I'm not saying this is what happened here, but there are many reasons to charge for public domain images, and for someone to pay. One big reason is for proof they are public domain. If my business was using images, I would want to make sure I have the right to republish those images. Even if that means I have to pay for public domain images.
Getty is providing a service and they are charging for it. Sure, perhaps you can go elsewhere to get those same images for free... Then you should do so if you don't want to pay the fee. But there is nothing unethical about charging for public domain images... Now sueing people because they didn't not pay you for those images is wrong. The federal good government needs to get involved in this as well.
It's okay that Getty lists high quality images that are public domain or restriction free as part of their search engine, but it is beyond ethically wrong to charge money for them.