Thousands of bills for retrospective licenses have been sent out by both Getty and Corbis, relating to images allegedly used without license by websites. These have asserted very high levels of fee in line with US statutory damages rather that UK peanuts even when they have involved UK based domains. They give 5 or 7 days to pay.

Many recipients have wondered whether these are scams. They are not. Getty Images is the largest stock photo library in the world, and Corbis is the second largest.

This is all discussed at great length in a panic-stricken and angry thread that is now 67 pages long and has been raging for over a year at the Federation of Small Business forums. Dozens, perhaps hundreds of these notices have gone to UK citizens.

Without exception these bills have not so far resulted in any court action. Getty seem to be trying to compel settlement rather than sue. They are using UK solicitors who are by all accounts very persistent. Some have paid but many of the accused are arguing - some claim to have legitimate licenses obtained elsewhere, others dispute the amounts (typically £1,500-£7,000) as bearing no relation to Getty's own prices for legitimate use, that there was no way they could know the origin of the images or their copyright status etc.

But there is an exception here, albeit from an anonymous poster:

Having been caught in the the middle of this almighty mess because of one $20 image I legally licensed from a 3rd party that defaulted Getty persued me for costs and fees of near $2500.

As I am UK based I responded to their threats that US court action had absolutely no merit and I challenged them to bring it to a UK court for settlement. They didnt and summary judgement was granted in a US court which means the next time I set foot in the USA I will be arrested. ...

Maybe it's true, maybe it isn't. Maybe web publications are able to be deemed to occur in the US if the site is visible in the US. Maybe Getty is building a class action against all the UK infringers who are arguing, which it will pursue later in the US courts. We don't know, nobody does. If you receive one of these notices we would strongly recommend you consult a specialist copyright lawyer as soon as possible - and please let us know the outcome