Copyright Theft – Is It Really Theft?
by Scott Gair, May 8th, 2012
Our laws have been shaped by public opinion over many centuries. You can trace copyright law back to the Statute of Anne 1710, and it has been evolving ever since.
Copyright laws, love them or hate them, are there for the good of society. Copyright law protects and encourage creative thinking. For example, if an author writes a book, it is only fair that the content of that book is protected so that no one else can simply nick the content and flog it on for their own profit. Society respects the individual for taking the time to write a novel, and allows the author to protect their work and ultimately make a living from it. If we didn’t have such protection, we wouldn’t have authors, artists, films, music, professional photographers and so on.
I undertake some photography work in my spare time, and I also act for a number of picture agencies and professional photographers. Most of my instructions relate to copyright theft – lets not beat around the bush, it is copyright theft, not copyright infringement. A typical instruction would be from a professional photographer who gets an image in the national newspapers, which is then promptly stolen by a whole host of other people who want to use it on their website/blog without paying for it. It is theft. If I leave a bicycle unlocked outside a shop, and someone rides off on it – that is theft. If I put an image on the internet and it is taken by another without consent – that is theft too.
I recently stumbled across a local photography competition on Facebook for a business group in Worthing which had about 15,000 followers. The photography competition was urging followers to submit their favourite photo which showed Worthing at Christmas. The prize for the competition winner was a couple of tickets to the opening of something in Worthing, I forget exactly what. As a keen photographer, I wanted to enter the competition but I missed the deadline as I was, ironically, out with my camera. When I logged back in to check on the competition results, it became clear to me that someone has in fact submitted one of my own images to the competition, and won! They nabbed it off my Flickr account.
When I raised my concerns with the competition organiser and the person who stole my image, I was not met with any sympathy, and the response was along the lines of: ‘she never said it was her photo when she submitted it to the competition’ and; ‘you should be flattered that she took it’! I said I was happy for the image to be used as long as I was given a public credit for it and the prize could be donated to a local children’s charity. Sadly that offer was declined, I have no idea what happened with the prize, and because of the “bad blood”?? the competition organisers didn’t want to use my image. I posted a short thread on the Facebook group about this incident, and the public reaction to my post caught me by surprise. I had a couple of people in support, but the overwhelming majority of public opinion was against me. The public opinion seemed to suggest a real lack of knowledge of copyright laws. Comments included statements like:-
1. If an image is on the internet it is free to use (which is utter rubbish of course)
2. Photographers should be flattered if people nick their images (again – utter rubbish)
3. All I was after was money (rubbish – I didn’t ask for any money, and I wanted to donate the prize to charity)
4. I shouldn’t take any action about the copyright theft
5. The woman who stole my image had done nothing wrong
It is heartbreaking to see how public perception views copyright laws. The public knows that burning pirate DVD’s and CD’s is wrong, is a criminal offence, and a prison sentence could await them. Sadly, the public do not seem to understand that nicking a photo is wrong too. With the gap between public perception and the law being so wide, it is only a matter of time before something is done about this at parliamentary level. Indeed, there are already proposals to change copyright laws which are not going down too well with photographers.
I don’t think the lack of insight in to copyright laws is the fault of the general public, I think it shows a lack of promotion of copyright laws for people like photographers. If you go and watch a film, we have all seen the big anti piracy signs and adverts at the start of a film – it is all about educating the public. What have photographers done to get across their message on copyright? Not a lot! I am not saying that the photographers are at fault because they are not, but the industry as a whole needs to do something about it because copyright theft is endemic and is showing no signs of fading.
As a photographer I feel it is absolutely crucial to assert your intellectual property rights and pursue anyone who steals your image. Professional photographers really ought to do this to protect their livelihood and pensions (and lets face it, copyright forms part of their pensions). If we do not enforce our intellectual property rights then there is a danger that we will over time devalue our industry and we have already seen a massive cut in rates the national newspapers are paying for images. My message to all professional photographers out there is to stand up and be counted. Uphold and enforce your rights!
Waxing Lyrical
by Dean Orgill, April 17th, 2012
Well, maybe not “waxing” as such, as even I do not go back as far as wax cylinders (though the era of vinyl I admit to), but some musings on specialist record shops – prompted by the forthcoming Record Store Day on 21st April (see www.recordstoreday.co.uk).
Putting aside a quibble as to what happened to record “shops” rather than “stores”) I would like to praise the independent specialist shop, and urge everyone to support them.
Whilst the population numbers of these particular beasts have no doubt declined from their hey-day they are still there, and providing a great service for the music fan.
This is no Luddite argument. I will happily download music from a certain web-based fruity vendor, and/or scour Amazon and the like for long-deleted CDs that even the specialist shops can longer provide. But neither of these can replace the record shop (or store).
For me they do not provide the experiences of going into a specialist retailer, physically touching the “product” and enjoying the experience of shopping for music, of finding that hidden gem, or of listening to the album that the person in the shop was playing to amuse themselves and finding that you liked it (a frisson made even better if you could then play it to your friends who would also find it brilliant and were so impressed that you had “discovered” this band that none of them had ever heard of before).
As well as the above you were able to appreciate the art-work that went with the album. Even if you hated them there were some groups with a reputation for either awesome or witty album covers that you could still enjoy, even if there was no chance of you buying the album.
Impressively there are still quite a few of these specialists around. Many still display boards telling you when new releases are due out. You may even be able to pick up the expired promotional material for a charitable donation too. Gigs from local bands (or even “guitarist wanted” ads) are still there.
Then, of course, there is the experienced owner/assistant. Almost by definition (if not genetics) a music fan, they are well practised in being able to identify what you are looking for, even from your most tuneless mumblings and barely-remembered lyrics of something you half-heard on the radio or at a party over the week-end.
These are the specialist shops our High Streets still need. These are hubs of common interest that on-line purchasing of music just does not provide. Many of us of a certain vintage want to think that they will always be there. If we don’t support them they won’t be.
So why not support you local specialist outlet. Put a visit to one on your list for this week-end. Hopefully you will appreciate it and they will make you want to go back (that bit is up to them). You may find some great new music, or connect with a long-forgotten part of your music collection – and that can’t be bad.
By Dean Orgill
Are Professional News Photographers an Endangered Species?
by Scott Gair, January 24th, 2012
The digital era and advances in modern technology has changed the landscape within which professional photographers work. The way the industry is going, I believe that it is going to be increasingly difficult for many professional photographers to continue making a living from their art.
Technological Advances
In the days of film photography, news photographers had nerves of steel and they had to have the technical skills to back it up too. If they were sent in to the field to cover a newsworthy event, they had to nail the shot, and without digital cameras it was not until they retreated to the darkroom that they discovered whether or not they had “the shot”. There were no second chances, you couldn’t go back to the scene and try and recreate the moment; the moment had gone. This wasn’t a place for the faint hearted or the “have a go amateur.”
The introduction of digital cameras with viewing panels on the back of the camera, meant photographers could instantly check on their results. If they hadn’t captured the moment they were after, they could remain in situ and continue shooting until they had the shots they were after. The digital era gave instant feedback, and the opportunity to rectify any mistakes in the field before returning to the picture desk of the newspaper. This is just one technological advancement that has made photography more available to the masses.
Increased Competition
Professional digital SLR cameras are now much more affordable; and you only need to go to a friends wedding to see that there will be a steady stream of friends prancing about with digital SLR’s. In years gone by, SLR cameras were fewer and further between, and largely left in the hands of the professionals. With more amateurs owning professional quality digital SLR’s, it is inevitable that more of them will try their hand at professional work, which is leading to an increase in competition for the professional photographer.
More Images
In the digital age, it is much easier to take images, and distribute them via various platforms. Almost everyone has a camera phone, and we only need to cast our mind back to the tragic events on 9/11 to recall the vast quantity of footage and stills which captured those awful moments. As there are so many images in circulation of almost every news worthy event, the value of the photograph has fallen away. It is fair to say that exclusive shots still command a reasonable fee, but by and large the value of the photograph has fallen. To compound matters, we all know that some newspapers have been struggling and they have been trying to reduce the money they pay to photographers for their images.
It remains to be seen over the next few years how the best news photographers will remain at the top of their game and adapt to stay at the forefront of their profession. I for one, wish them all the very best of success. Having spent a day with a client seeing how he goes about his news photography, I can vouch that it is much much harder than it looks!
Could Misspelled Search Terms Cost You Business?
by Jason Edge, October 27th, 2011
In a world where a high percentage of goods and services are researched and bought on the web it is essential that you make yourself visible to potential buyers.
For most businesses this means using an SEO specialist to help your site rank well in search engines like Google and striving for that ever elusive top spot on page one of results for your keywords. However there have been some examples of brands being hijacked in order to gain traffic and business.
In the High Court recently, Interflora claimed that M&S was infringing its registered trademarks by purchasing several keywords containing the mark INTERFLORA. Consumers searching on the Internet using these keywords would be shown a sponsored link to M&S’s online flower-delivery service. You don’t have to have an in-depth knowledge of trademark infringement to know that this is a little ’Black Hat’ in approach.
Slightly less obvious are those competitors that prey on misspellings of your company name or product. By registering domains that are misspellings of a competitor or optimising your site to pick up these search term errors can also mean that you could end up in court.
Although we have a great team of brand protection lawyers it is always better to adopt a ‘prevention is better than cure’ approach. I recommend that you use a spelling typo generator to help you determine the different ways your brands could be misspelled either through missed or inserted keys, double letters, skipped spaces or skipped letters.
If you feel that any of these misspellings could be used by others then it may be worth you registering the domain yourself or asking your SEO agency to look at ways of including these on your site.
Having done this exercise myself I was surprised to see how just how many ways Mayo Wynne Baxter could be misspelled:
It makes sense for us to protect our own brand but our name is so distinctive that it would be hard for someone else to defend using any of the above to promote their law firm. Check out yours and if you find that a competitor is already using one of your misspellings then I have some great lawyers who would be happy to look into dealing with this for you.
Lady Gaga lawsuit guilty of sense of humour bypass
by Scott Gair, October 18th, 2011
Last Friday queen of pop Lady Gaga won an injunction against British company Mind Candy Monsters and its online cartoon character Lady Goo Goo. The sunglass-wearing baby caricature performs parody songs like Peppy-rezzi on children’s social network Moshi Monsters. While everyone has a right to protect their original works, failing to see the funny side can be a mistake for someone who relies on fans and public goodwill.
The London High Court sided with Lady Gaga on the grounds that Lady Goo Goo could cause confusion amongst consumers. The similarity of names in both the character and its songs carries this argument. Yet it seems unlikely that preventing confusion was the only motivation behind the injunction. Lady Goo Goo’s Moshi Dance recently became a YouTube hit and was about to be released on iTunes before it was blocked.
Seeing other people profit from your name is inevitably frustrating and Lady Gaga has only taken action against a fraction of the companies that she potentially could (there’s even an ice cream made of human breast milk called Baby Gaga). Everyone has to draw their own line, but there is another way to protect your interests without appearing to clamp down on other people’s creativity.
Hosts of BBC TV show Masterchef John Torode and Greg Wallis unwittingly became the stars of a techno tune made from clips of the programme this summer. Masterchef Synesthesia (Buttery Biscuit Base) attracted more than 3million views on YouTube and reached number 37 in the singles chart through iTunes sales. Despite having no prior knowledge of the song, or its creator Swede Mason, both presenters publicly welcomed the track. Greg Wallis tweeted “Really cannot believe I’m in a song in the top 40. Really very funny, and kind of nice.”
Last week’s injunction bans Mind Candy Monsters from “promoting, advertising, selling, distributing or otherwise making available to the public” songs performed by Lady Goo Goo. Videos have been removed from YouTube although bootlegs are already appearing.
The example points to the truth that legal representation should always be about more than winning court cases. People whose living depends on their creative talent need good advice on how to protect their interests in the long-term. Much of that is best done outside the courtroom.
By Scott Gair
Cookie Laws
by Martin Williams, June 17th, 2011
Recent changes in the EU relating to privacy and electronic communications came into force in the UK on the 26th of May 2011 and now it is time for implementation.
The changes will mean that businesses and organisations with websites in the UK will need to obtain “informed consent” from visitors to their websites to enable them to store and retrieve information on users’ computers. The storage of such information is generally done via “cookies”, which code information and allow websites to recognise a user’s device.
By storing information and data, cookies are used to direct marketing and advertising at individual users by “remembering” users’ browsing activities.
The new requirements mean that website owners should check what cookies they use, and how; assess how intrusive the use of cookies is; and decide what solution will be best for you to obtain consent from users.
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has issued guidance for UK businesses as to how to comply with the new European legislation. The ICO has said that it will allow website owners one year to prepare themselves for enforcement of the legislation. The ICO will also have the power to issue fines of up to £500,000.00 for breach of the new Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. Breaches will include the sending of unwanted marketing emails and texts, and making both live and automated marketing telephone calls.
However the problem is that the guidance so far provided is not clear, or definitive and therefore website owners are left without any proper knowledge of what course of action they must take to comply with the cookie laws. From a legal perspective, it is practically impossible at this time to set out the necessary compliance steps for clients to take under the new laws.
In view of the prospect of incurring such a high penalty from the ICO, it seems likely that those in the technological know will invent some other form of data storage which will circumvent the new laws.
By Rebecca Pitt
I think therefore iCloud
by Martin Williams, June 10th, 2011
Apple products are appreciated by more and more individuals and companies worldwide, and their innovative creations just keep coming.
The latest iCloud is an incredibly complex web-based system which permits uses to share information between phones, computers, laptops and tablets. Effectively it is a system which not only stores data from multiple devices, but also backs up that data on Apple servers. It should remove the need for USB sticks and hard drives by replacing that need with a simple internet connection.
As with any new technology dealing with data sharing, the main issue is security in the transmission of data.
The system is in fact a free service and it is said that it is likely to have a huge effect on music piracy – once tried and tested, this in turn might impact on the reviews that are desperately needed in the UK in copyright legislation.
The UK Publishing Industry
by Jason Edge, June 10th, 2011
It may come as a surprise to learn that over recent years publishing is one of the most successful of the UK’s media & creative industries. The UK’s publishing industry is also one of the largest in the world, and is well known for the quality of the content that it creates and the broad range of subject matter. Figures that I found from UK Trade & Investment suggest that the UK publishing industry has a combined turnover of at least £20 billion earned by around 8,500 companies that employs over 160,000 people.
It’s unsurprising that the UK publishing industry is considered to be the most developed. UK book publishers print in excess of 100,000 new titles a year, while we also publish more newspaper and periodicals than anywhere else in the world.
The UK publishing industry is one of the most culturally and commercially diverse in the world producing titles from the popular Harry Potter novels to obscure magazines like Teddy Bear Times. The UK is also reknown for its serious titles too
The success of the UK publishing industry, which has given the world many of the advancements in modern publishing, has had a worldwide impact. This is, in part, down to the quality of content but also down to a well-developed network of overseas partners and the undoubted dominance of the English language.
As a consequence the UK has become the world’s largest exporter and re-exporter of books by value, with almost a half of the UK book publishers’ revenue generated by export sales, which are thought to be worth in excess of £1 billion a year. In recent years industry figures sugest that 13% of UK consumer magazines have an international distribution and an estimated 94 million magazines were exported.This considerable revenue is further increased by the global licensing of publishing rights, subscriptions to electronically delivered content and the profits from overseas subsidiaries.
The UK’s media & creative industries continue to be strong and Sussex publishers are a serious contributor to the UK’s output. In response to this market development Mayo Wynne Baxter created a sector team of specialist media & creative industry lawyers to develop a deep understanding of the creative industry and the solutions to the unique legal problems that it faces.
Sussex Creative Industry Survey
by Jason Edge, June 10th, 2011
As one of the region’s foremost legal specialists for the media and creative industries we are continually looking at the needs of the industry and seeing how we can help.
In recent months we have noticed an increase in enquiries from creative businesses with concerns over copyright and intellectual property. Some businesses have not protected the work that they do or even considered their own brand protection.
If you work within a creative industry please take a moment to complete our brief survey, particularly if you work in one of the following creative sectors:
- Photography
- Games design
- Web design
- Graphic design
- Illustration
- Animation
- Film
The survey can be found by clicking here
The results of this survey will help us to determine how we can best support the industry and tailor our free seminar programme to provide the right information you need.
Bell Boy
by Martin Williams, June 9th, 2011
Many inventions are completely useless, although for some reason consumers are still happy to buy gadgets and gizmos as presents for birthdays, Christmases and so on.
However a smart Croydon based 13 year old boy, Laurence Rook, has actually invented something of potential use, particularly for regular online shoppers – an activity that will no doubt continue to increase. Laurence’s mother missed several deliveries (albeit deliveries for a Playstation for Laurence) as she was not home, which gave Laurence the idea of creating a doorbell which telephones the occupant of the property if the door is not answered within 8 seconds.
He worked hard cleaning cars in order to pay for a prototype to be made in China. So far, it is not completely clear whether Laurence has taken steps to protect his intellectual property rights to his invention but hopefully he did take appropriate action before revealing his idea to the public. Failure to do so could result in him significantly losing out financially.
He already has orders worth up to £250,000, which is pretty impressive for a teen. It is thought that each unit will retail at £40.00.
By Rebecca Pitt