Looming UK copyright law might burn a hole through copyright
Photographers in the UK are being urged to write to their local MP to protest against measures in the imminent Digital Economy Bill which could, campaigners say, effectively remove copyright on millions of photos posted on the internet.
The Copyright Action Group says of the Bill:
“It introduces orphan works usage rights, which – unless amended, which (the Government) says it will not – will allow the commercial use of any photograph whose author cannot be identified through a suitably negligent search. That is potentially about 90% of the photos on the internet.”
“Copyright in photos is essentially going to cease to exist, since there is no ineradicable way of associating ownership details short of plastering your name right across the image.”
The British Journal of Photography has been covering this story too, and puts the situation in more measured tones.
The items referred to in the Bill were inserted for the benefit of museums and archival institutions to make use of the large numbers of orphan works they have in their collections.
An “orphan work” is a photograph or other creative work for which no original owner can be traced or contacted. It applies to a large number of old photos held by libraries and museums.
The Copyright Action Group’s point is that anyone could in theory use this legislation to justify pulling any photo they like from anywhere on the net, and then subsequently claiming it was an orphan work if the copyright holder notices its use without consent or payment. Since any image can be copied with ease, “Flickr, Google Images, personal websites, all of it will become commercial publishers’ photolibrary.”
The only certain way of ensuring an image isn’t deliberately orphaned would be to export it to the web with an indelible watermark – usually the last thing any photographer wants to do to ensure the work looks its best.
The Group is asking UK-based photographers to write to their MP as soon as possible. The Bill is set to become law in about six weeks – assuming the troubled Labour government can hold on to power that long. A snap election might be the only thing that could stop the Digital Economy Bill in its tracks.
