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The Digital Economy Bill- a major change to UK copyright laws currently protecting photographers
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The Digital Economy Bill is scheduled to pass through parliament in less than 6 weeks, and is perhaps the biggest change to UK copyright laws in over 150 years.
If you live in the UK, take photos and share them with others, you might want to find out how the proposed changes will affect you!
Article from Copyright Action:
www.copyrightaction.com/forum/uk-gov-nationalises-orphans...
Perhaps a more balanced Statement from the Royal Photographic Society:
www.rps.org/resources/downloads/Microsoft_Word_-_Copyrigh...
Essentially this legislation reverses the current responsibilities around copyright in the UK as the onus to prove/maintain ownership/rights status will now be on the creator of the work, not the advertising agencies/ photo editors/ etc. who stand to make money from those images.
To protect your images you will now need to register each of them (and any variations) with a (still undefined) government agency, for a fee (also undefined).
There is every chance this will become law.
The timetable for the Bill's Passage can be found here:
services.parliament.uk/bills/2009-10/digitaleconomy.html
There is some discussion on the Royal Photographic Society's forum:
www.rpsforum.org/showthread.php?t=18340
If you feel strongly about UK copyright there is a petition set up here:
petitions.number10.gov.uk/copyrightreform/
(You must be a British Citizen OR Resident to sign)
Or you can write to your MP, MEP, etc for free here:
www.writetothem.com/
If you are a photographer in the UK, you need to at least find out what this Bill will mean for you.
Posted at 1:11PM, 1 March 2010 PDT
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Thanks for the heads up - I've signed the petition and will be writing to my MP...
Posted 27 months ago.
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Andy McGowan [deleted] says:
As I understand it you have to make sure it is easy to identify who the photographer is! basically add your name to all of your shots to ensure you don't find your pictures used by others
Posted 27 months ago.
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"To protect your images you will now need to register each of them (and any variations) with a (still undefined) government agency, for a fee (also undefined). "
Yep, all we need is another frigging Quango run by cronies for the enrichment of cronies. Unless of course, this agency will be some private sector company, which just so happens to have cronies/Mandelson/Murdoch on the board of directors...
My suggestion is to emboss a (c) symbol in the corner of each image. You can also add Copyright information to the EXIF data too. Then it is clear and unambiguous. One could also add creative commons symbols to....
Hey, I've just saved the photographic community millions of pounds. Yeh but no but, the whole point of this bit of the Digital Botchup Bill is that it equates to a ***Stealth Tax on photographers and artists ***. And Gordon sure hates creatives and loves his taxes.
+++ So what exactly happens when the photo is stored on a server *outside* of the UK? Say in the USA or Europe? Does UK law effectively 'invade' Belgium or the United States? Is it where the photo is taken or where it is stored that affects the copyright under this bill? Do Flickr users visiting the UK discover that News International can use their photos of London for free because they did not register the images with a quango?
And with regard to the Berne Agreement, is Mandleson now saying that Britain no longer recognises International Law? Urm...
Digital Britain = Digital Bullshit
AJB
Originally posted 27 months ago.
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Andy Beez [ Photo Archive ] edited this topic 27 months ago.
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