A travel agent has spoken of his fear and anger after being threatened with a fine of £3,000 over alleged copyright infringement.

Niall Douglas, managing director of Oxfordshire-based Full Circle Travel, has warned others to be wary of using brochure images on their websites after becoming embroiled in a legal spat with Getty Images at the start of the year.

The issue concerns the use of copyrighted images online, and in Douglas’s case whether tour operator brochure images can be freely used.

“As a small business, when you have someone suddenly asking for £3,000 with a big name, when it is actually something that is on your website – it’s a scary thing to happen,” Douglas told TTG.

He was contacted by Getty Images in January and asked to either provide a valid licence, take down the images, or pay a fine. The images in question related to brochures from the likes of Cox & Kings and Seasons.

“I do pay for all my photos, I’ve always been very careful with that – but they said that we were using these [brochure] images without licence,” he said.

“I offered £600… they declined that and said they would accept 50% of the original total”

Douglas wrote back, pointing out that as an agent he was simply displaying the brochure of a tour operator. “I then heard nothing until August when I received the collections letter from a company called Atradius [Collections],” he said.

Douglas once again queried the allegations but was told payment was due. He made an approach to resolve the issue. “I offered £600… they declined that and said they would accept 50% [of the original total].”

By this point Douglas had sought help from a company called Copyright Infringement. Douglas was told to expect a phone call from Atradius and was coached on what he should say. “We’re waiting for what they will do next,” he said.

Douglas is now urging other agents to be vigilant and to think about how they get their images.

“Certainly check and just be warned because companies like Getty are out there,” he said.

Douglas is not the only agent to be contacted by Getty Images.

Nicole Eaves, director at Preston-based Garstang Travel, was hit by a demand for £1,000 10 years ago after using an unlicensed image of the Sydney Opera House. She eventually agreed a reduced amount.

“I didn’t want to pay £750 but I didn’t think I had an option,” she said. “I was scared to death getting this letter from Getty Images.”

In a statement Getty Images said: “Protecting the copyright and livelihood of our photographers and contributing artists is a top priority at Getty Images.

“We realise that there are many small businesses and image users that are new to licensing content… As part of our commitment to provide information and education about how to licence content, we created the online resource Stockphotorights.com.

“We also offer compliance information for individuals found to have used our images without a licence.”