Category: Legal / Copyright
News
Copyright association formed in Washington DC
A new non-profit organization dedicated to “promoting the value of copyright as an agent for jobs, creativity and growth” called The Copyright Alliance has opened its doors in the nation’s capital. The association has an impressive list of member organizations which includes the American Society of Media Photographers, CBS Corporation, the NCAA, NBA Properties, Inc.; NBC Universal, News Corporation, Professional Photographers of America, Recording Industry Association of America, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner, Viacom, and The Walt Disney Company, among others.
News
PACA announces publication of Nancy Wolff’s Legal Handbook for Photographers
For seven years now, Nancy Wolff, legal counsel to the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA,) has written legal updates for the organizations bi-weekly newsletter to members. These updates have served to keep the entire industry un to date on the myriad legal issues, changes in laws and key cases that affect the business of creating, licensing, using and publishing stock imagery. Wolff has now updated and compiled these invaluable explanations-in-laymen’s-terms in “The Professional Photographer’s Legal Handbook,” a must-read for anyone engaged in any aspect of the stock image industry.
News
German photo agency raided prior to G8 meetings
A long fence surrounding a broad radius of the meeting area at Ostseebad Heiligendamm should ensure that demonstrators – violent or peaceful - cannot disrupt the meeting of the 8 leading industrial nations (G8) in Germany. Nevertheless the German National Administration fears terrorist attacks by anti globalization activists. In a large scale raid in Berlin-Kreuzberg and the Hamburg area of Schanzenviertel, offices and private establishments were searched and documents and hard disks were confiscated. The parties involved claim that the German National Police are trying to criminalize all protest actions against the G8-meeting before they actually transpire.
News
AFP signs content deal with Google ending copyright lawsuit
Agence France-Presse (AFP) has announced that it completed a licensing agreement with Google giving the search engine the right to post AFP news and photos. The agreement ends a copyright lawsuit filed by AFP two years ago while allowing Google the right to post AFP content on Google News and other services. The deal "will enable the use of AFP's newswire content in innovative, new ways that will dramatically improve the way users experience newswire content on the Internet," the statement said.
News
Silicon Valley start-up launches Attributor to address online copyright infringement
The Wall Street Journal recently reported that Attributor Corp., of Redwood City, California, has designed a system for scanning the Internet for possible infringing use of all types of content, including text, music, video and imagery. According to the article, the privately held company will index billions of web-pages and search them for matches with content owned by their clients using a technique known as "digital fingerprinting". The fact that the company has the backing of several well-known and successful technology executives and other technology investment firms lends credibility to the company's claims that its technology performs a much more comprehensive search than those of existing content search companies.
News
Orphan Works bill dies (at least for now)
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) is reporting on the demise of the Orphan Works bill (the Copyright Modernization Act of 2006, HR 6052) which appears to have died in committee. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) who announced that he was withdrawing the bill from consideration at that markup session, which is likely to be the last one this year. The bill was stopped due to strong opposition put forth by organizations like the SAA, ASMP, APA, IPA, PACA, and many others. In addition, Rep. Smith had tied the Orphan Works bill to a digital music licensing bill creating further opposition from the music industry.
News
Natalie Pinkham to sue Daily Mail over stolen Prince Harry photos
British TV personality Natalie Pinkham recently discovered pictures from 2003 depicting her and Prince Harry in a bar were stolen and published in The Sun newspaper Aug 15th, and then printed again Aug 16th in the Daily Mail. As the sole owner of the pictures, the London Press-Gazette is reporting that Natalie Pinkham has taken no legal action against The Sun, but intends to sue the Daily Mail for "flagrant" breach of copyright. The same article quoted Rex Features, a stock photography agency, stating that “rights to publish the photographs legally might have cost up to £250,000 (approx $500,000) if sold on the open market” However, the newspaper might have to pay double the pictures' theoretical price if a judge rules that the breach was flagrant or deliberate.
Click here to view the original article.
News
Pirate Party fights copyright
There are many political parties with unusual names and policies around the world and some enjoy moderate success on the political stage. Britain has its Official Monster Raving Loony Party, America a Know Nothing Party and a Flat Earth Party and Canada, believe it or not, a Marijuana Party, while Germany has a Mother with Child Party, a Motorists’ Party, A Non-Voters Party (!), a Spiritually Aware, A Pogo Dancers’ Party, to name just a few. Sweden has the Pirate Party, which was launched at the beginning of the year. The focus of its manifesto, according to the Pirate Party of Austria (PPÖ), is on "copyright reform, exemption from punishment for making copies for private, non-commercial purposes, a ban on digital rights management (DRM) and a reduction of the period of copyright protection to five years." Stefan Hartmann, VISUELL
News
US Copyright office raises registration fees
The United States Copyright Office of the Library of Congress has adjusted fees for its services. The adjusted fees are intended to cover a significant portion of the costs to the Office of registering claims and provide full cost recovery for many other services provided by the Office. The proposed fee increase for pre-registration has been eliminated, and the proposed increase for group registration of photographs has been reduced to match the fee for basic registration ($45). Adjusted fees will be effective July 1, 2006.
News
ASMP lobbies copyright office for simplified registration
The American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) recently sat down with the US Copyright office to request changes in how photographs are registered. ASMP would like to see registration from within future DAM applications to make it easier for photographers to register their work. "With on-line registration on the near horizon, this feature will make it much easier to actually register your copyright and more fully protect your images," said Richard Anderson, chair of ASMP's Digital Standards Committee and principal author of the Universal Photographic Digital Imaging Guidelines (UPDIG) document. Click here to view the original press release.
Features
More on Orphan Works
On March 14, 2006, the illustrators trade association, Illustrators Partnership of America (IPA,) submitted an eloquent assessment of the Orphan Works issue to the House Judiciary Subcommittee responsible for recommending revisions to Orphan Works legislation. As we have reported here, the new language under consideration severely compromises artists copyrights in works whose origin may become difficult to determine. Two artists, Brad Holland and Cynthia Turner, composed this text on behalf of IPA which provides a clear and detailed evaluation of the matter. In addition, IPA’s web-site has more articles about Orphan Works.
Features
PACA and ASMP leading the charge on Orphan Works
Nancy Wolff, Counsel to the Executive Committee of the Picture Archive Council of America (PACA) and Victor Perlman, General Counsel to the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP,) have recently joined forces with other concerned parties to ensure that pending amendments to current legislation concerning “Orphan Works” (i.e., illustrations, photographs, paintings, etc. of unknown authorship) adequately protect photographers, illustrators and other artists, while also permitting proper use of works that truly have no attribution. The US Copyright Office has examined the issue and come up with recommended changes to Orphan Works legislation that Wolff and Perlman agree, as currently worded, place the authors of those works on weak legal footing. Congress will, ultimately consider enacting into law the recommended language from the Copyright Office. The attorneys from PACA, ASMP and other interested groups hope to convince Congress to change the language to strengthen the rights and remedies of the creators of Orphan Works. They address three essential issues covered by the proposed legislation:
News
AP contract encourages photographers to create stock photography
The Associated Press has issued a new contract that allows AP employees to use company equipment to shoot stock images in their free time. The union representing AP photographers (News Media Guild), agreed to the contract on Feb. 9 2006. The contract allows photographers to retain copyright ownership of their stock images and the AP will market the photos. Participating photographers will earn 30 percent royalties and are free to market the images on their own or with other agencies. This appears to be a step by AP to begin offering images that are previously unpublished and perhaps a bit more “commercial” while continuing to build up its stock licensing business located online at www.apimages.com. Until now AP Images has offered its own collection of historical and editorial photos, including the AP Photo Library, holding 10 million negatives and prints dating back more than 100 years, and the AP Photo Archive, which contains more than two million images. Click here to view the recent press release from News Media Guild.
Features
Che’s family seeks copyright protection of famed image
Recently reported by CNN.com the family of Che Guevara has
announced plans to file lawsuits against companies that they believe are
exploiting the famed image of Che Guevara. The famous picture was taken by Alberto Diaz a
Cuban photographer in 1960 and has since been used by advertisers and
merchandisers on anything from watches to women’s underwear. Precedent for
legal action has been set by a successful copyright lawsuit against Smirnoff
vodka in Britain in 2000, establishing ownership of the photographic image.
Features
Do I need to copyright my images?
This is one of the most frequent questions I hear from photographers (especially after someone has published an image without permission.) The simple answer is… Yes, as a professional you should protect your livelihood by copyrighting all of your images. Many photographers do not register their images because it is a hassle or they have heard that an image is automatically copyrighted. It is true that your images are automatically protected under US copyright law. However, registration offers the following advantages:
1. Registration establishes a public record of the copyright claim.
2. Before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of US origin.
3. If made before or within 5 years of publication, registration will establish prima facie evidence in court of the validity of the copyright and of the facts stated in the certificate.
4. If registration is made within 3 months after publication of the work or prior to an infringement of the work, statutory damages and attorney's fees will be available to the copyright owner in court actions. Otherwise, only an award of actual damages and profits is available to the copyright owner.
5. Registration allows the owner of the copyright to record the registration with the U. S. Customs Service for protection against the importation of infringing copies.
I know what you are thinking – Ugggh!!! Now I have to go through all of that paperwork hassle to register each of my images! One trick to make it easier is to copyright a group of images rather than go through the hassle for just one image. You can submit up to 750 images for registration on one application with one filing fee. All professional artists should place this task into their calendar to copyright their work on a regular schedule (I do it 3 times a year).
For more information the US Copyright office maintains an excellent website that you can visit to learn about registration procedures and keep up to date with copyright law. http://www.copyright.gov
