UK copyright law changes
If you werent aware of this it is it's probably worth doing some reading as this could have a devastating effect on our rights as photographers - both pro and amature.
The UK parliment is voting soon on a bill to change the way copyright legislation deals with what they call 'orphaned works' which means any image that cannot be attributed to it's author. The changes will mean a government authority will take control of these images and for a fee licence people to use them like stock photography. The proposed bill states that if the copyright holder is subsequently found they will be entitled to 'a proportion' of the fees they charged for it's use, no further clarification is given on proposed fees of the proportion paid to copyright holders.
This is being proposed to make it easier for the likes of museums to use images that it is impossible to track down the copyright holder but the way they have described will open us all up to a serious threat of wholesale copyright violation.
It is extremely easy to render a work orphaned, the removal of copyright notices and EXIF date is fairly commonplace in the industry. We have all had experience in the past of images being stolen and passed off as someone elses.
This raises serious concerns about publishers intentionally creating orphaned works, I for one am not sold on the idea of publishers using the honours system considering on more than one ocasion I have had to fight to have content removed for breaching copyright.
If like me this concerns you a good place to start is here, this article has great advice on mailing your local MP to register your worries |
