Some of you may be aware of the Gowers Report (2006) into Intellectual Property Rights. Bits of the report's suggestions are now starting to come into consultation. Why should this bother you? Because some of these recommendations have the capability to negatively effect your rights and/or income with your own work. It is worth keeping an eye on the consultation papers to see what is being proposed. The 1st consultation pper has now been published today.
Some of you who sell work to the public either as prints, DVDs, Screensavers etc may like to take a look at the proposals in the 1st consultation paper that deal with format shifting - you'll need to look to Recommendation 8, Sections 80-115 (pgs 15-20). While it is primarily designed to adress music/mp3 and film/dvd format shifting - there is a possibility that it could become a broad brush.
I'll try and keep an eye on the other consultation papers as they are released and post up anything that may affect us as photographers and artists.
Posted by Paul Gibbs on January 8, 2008 at 10:16 AM
Thanks for the heads up Nick, i'd be most interested in how i effects things.
It likely to have more effect on people who also make money from things like portraiture, sporting & social events - and there are a few on the forum.
Basically the item in the 1st proposal would allow copying of your works (provided they where already owned) into another format by the customer, for use by the customer. ie if they'd bought prints from you, then your prints could be legally copied/scanned and used as a part of a screensaver, or legally transfered to a DVD for playback on a TV, iPod etc - irrespective of you offering these as separate purchasable goods. It is these kind of side-effects that the photo community and industry need to be on their guard for!
There are other proposals in the Gower report, which will be dealt with in other consultation papers, and which will effect all of us - the most worrying one being allowing so-called 'orphan works' (where the copyright holder can't easily be identified) to be copied.
The 'orphan works' issue was discussed in the USA and, from recollection, was thrown out.
The problem with the orphan works idea was that the onus to find the owner of the orphan item (photograph) was placed unpon the exact person/organisation who stood to gain from not finding them - it was suggested that only a cursory effort would therefore be made.
Whereas if no orphan works where allowed the market would just have to seek out an appropiate further work and pay the appropiate rate, hence the lack of orphan works autually ensured that fair recompence was delivered to somebody.
It may have come and gone in the US, but it is still very much a threat here in the UK. One of the recommendations of the Gowers Report was:
Recommendation 13: Propose a provision for orphan works to the European Commission, amending Directive 2001/29/EC.
Recommendation 14a: The Patent Office should issue clear guidance on the parameters of a ‘reasonable
search’ for orphan works, in consultation with rights holders, collecting societies, rights owners and archives,
when an orphan works exception comes into being.
Recommendation 14b: The Patent Office should establish a voluntary register of copyright; either on its own,
or through partnerships with database holders, by 2008.
If this misguided suggestion is brought into life, then it a very big reason to ensure that you include metadata and watermarks in your images.
You can find the full report here - see page 69 onwards for the Orpahn Works discussion.
Discussion
5 repliesSome of you may be aware of the Gowers Report (2006) into Intellectual Property Rights. Bits of the report's suggestions are now starting to come into consultation. Why should this bother you? Because some of these recommendations have the capability to negatively effect your rights and/or income with your own work. It is worth keeping an eye on the consultation papers to see what is being proposed. The 1st consultation pper has now been published today.
Some of you who sell work to the public either as prints, DVDs, Screensavers etc may like to take a look at the proposals in the 1st consultation paper that deal with format shifting - you'll need to look to Recommendation 8, Sections 80-115 (pgs 15-20). While it is primarily designed to adress music/mp3 and film/dvd format shifting - there is a possibility that it could become a broad brush.
I'll try and keep an eye on the other consultation papers as they are released and post up anything that may affect us as photographers and artists.
Basically the item in the 1st proposal would allow copying of your works (provided they where already owned) into another format by the customer, for use by the customer. ie if they'd bought prints from you, then your prints could be legally copied/scanned and used as a part of a screensaver, or legally transfered to a DVD for playback on a TV, iPod etc - irrespective of you offering these as separate purchasable goods. It is these kind of side-effects that the photo community and industry need to be on their guard for!
There are other proposals in the Gower report, which will be dealt with in other consultation papers, and which will effect all of us - the most worrying one being allowing so-called 'orphan works' (where the copyright holder can't easily be identified) to be copied.
The problem with the orphan works idea was that the onus to find the owner of the orphan item (photograph) was placed unpon the exact person/organisation who stood to gain from not finding them - it was suggested that only a cursory effort would therefore be made.
Whereas if no orphan works where allowed the market would just have to seek out an appropiate further work and pay the appropiate rate, hence the lack of orphan works autually ensured that fair recompence was delivered to somebody.
T
It may have come and gone in the US, but it is still very much a threat here in the UK. One of the recommendations of the Gowers Report was:
If this misguided suggestion is brought into life, then it a very big reason to ensure that you include metadata and watermarks in your images.
You can find the full report here - see page 69 onwards for the Orpahn Works discussion.