BeeDeeDubbleU - 9:18 pm on Apr 22, 2008 (gmt 0)

Lufc1955 I started the thread mentioned by Syzygy above. I am not qualified to offer legal advice and you must decide what action you take next. I can however offer you some facts about the case as I know them. I don't know if your problem is with Getty or Corbis. Mine was Corbis but the facts in both cases are quite similar.

1. This has been going on now for two to three years.
2. During this period many thousands of people throughout the world have received "invoices" from both Corbis and Getty.
3. Quite a few of them have taken fright and paid up so this is a very lucrative exercise for both companies.
4. There does not seem to be any information available about any of the original copyright holders receiving a share of this income from Getty or Corbis.
5. Some people (myself included) have paid lawyers to write a letter to Corbis, Getty or their agents presenting their "case for the defence".
6. Other people have written to them themselves and ended up negotiating a settlement. Some of them have been offered "discounts" if they pay up quickly without a fight.
7. Yet more have written to them telling them that they have taken the images down, that they got them from what they had reasonably assumed to be legal sources and that they would not be paying.

The bottom line is that since this started we have been unable to find a single case where Getty or Corbis have taken a small company or an individual to court here in the UK. This is not surprising since UK law requires the "plaintiff" to prove both "flagrancy and benefit" before deciding on any damages.

It seems likely that they would have little chance of making any of this stick in cases where people immediately removed the images in question and where there is no evidence of Flagrancy or Benefit. If they did take someone to court and lost then that would be the end of the this particular gravy train.

You can perhaps make a decision based on the above information but feel free to sticky me if you need any more specific info.

I can tell you that I have heard nothing from them since December 2006 and I do not expect to hear anything else.