Our agency does not deal with copyright per se but yes, I know about the issues.
First: the petitions are a bunch of alarmist bullshit. I got one from
change.org which urged me to sign, otherwise “taking a holiday snap in Europe
might be illegal in a few days”. Hogwash. Nothing of this sort was ever
contemplated. The whole discussion is about commercial use. So nobody’s ability
to take a photo of anything and stick it on their Facebook page was ever
questioned.
Second: the “Freedom of panorama” is a right that exists in some EU countries
(e.g. the UK or Sweden) but not in others (e.g. France or Italy). In the
countries which do not have this freedom, such as France, you have to get
permission from the owner before using an image of a restricted object
COMMERCIALLY. Contrary to popular belief, taking a picture of the Eiffel Tower
at night is not illegal; using that image in an advertisement is unless you get
permission from the authority that manages the image rights for the city of
Paris. This has nothing to do with fascism, a word that should not be used
lightly.
Third: what happened in the past few weeks is that the European Parliament has
been debating copyright. Why? Because it is widely expected that the European
Commission will propose a revision of EU copyright law during the fall, and the
Parliament wanted to give the Commission some recommendations (which it did not
ask for and which it can ignore since the Commission has the exclusive right to
propose legislation, which is then decided upon by the Parliament and the
Council).
Fourth: during that debate, a French MEP, Mr. Cavada, proposed an amendment
that would harmonise the “freedom of panorama” across the EU. Being French, he
wanted the law everywhere to be like it is in France, i.e. restrict commercial
use in some cases.
Fifth: yesterday, the Parliament voted down the proposed amendment, so that its
official position is that each Member State should have the freedom to deal
with “freedom of panorama” as it wishes, i.e. the status quo remains.
Sixth: the whole thing was a storm in a teacup because of what I explained
under the third point.
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan Wajsman
Alicante, Spain
http://www.frozenlight.eu
http://www.greatpix.eu
PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws
Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/
Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator
YNWA
> On 10 Jul 2015, at 01:18, Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hey, Nathan, this sounds from out here like an issue your agency would be
> involved in in some way? At least you should have an informed opinion, as
> both a photographer of public spaces and an IP expert.
>
> Any insights for us that go beyond the hand wringing and hair tearing going
> on on the web and in the press?
>
> Should we all be signing the e-petitions?
>
> Is there really such a strong streak of fascism running loose in Europe? And
> no, I don't use the term lightly.
>
> Moose D'Curious Opinion
>
> --
> What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
> --
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>
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