Another free seminar in Brighton, run by solicitor Scott Gair of Mayo Wynn Baxter (and member of www.copyrightaction.com)

‘Website Trading - E-Commerce and the Law’

Thursday 26th November 2009

"Join us at the Lighthouse, 28 Kensington Street, Brighton BN1 4AJ from 6.00pm till 8.00pm on Thursday 26th November for a lively and

As reported here and elsewhere, a UK removal company was recently sued by Getty Images for unauthorised use of a single image on its website. The company settled out of court, agreeing to pay Getty £1,951. But that is only the tip of the iceberg. The actual costs of this dispute are shockingly higher.

Out-law, the bulletin of IT & e-commerce solicitors Pinsent Masons LLP, reports that Getty has won a case for copyright infringement against removal company JA Coles. Coles admitted using a Getty photo 'Mother with daughter (6-8) looking at each other and smiling' on its website. Although Coles removed the image when approached for payment by Getty, they did not pay the fee. The Court ruling means they will now have to pay Getty's legal costs as well as £1,951.31 in damages.

What is significant about this case is that hundreds more may now follow. During 2005-2006 Getty (and Corbis) began invoicing alleged infringing users of their photographs for retrospective licenses. Many hundreds of UK web publishers have since received bills from Getty's UK lawyers,

From copyright lawyer, photographer and CopyrightAction member Scott Gair. Scott is a solicitor at Mayo Wynne Baxter.

PLEASE NOTE : Contact Scott Gair (details below) if you wish to attend NOT Copyright Action.

Media & Creative Industries Seminar

"An Introduction to Copyright for Photographers, Musicians, Writers, and the creative industries"

Mayo Wynne Baxter host free Copyright Law Seminar Join us at the Brighton Media Centre (Friese-Greene House, 15-17 Middle Street, Brighton BN1 1AL) from 5.30pm till 7.30pm on Wednesday 30th September for a lively and interactive seminar where solicitor Scott Gair will addressing the issues and challenges faced by creative professionals in their industries.

Times Newspaper Rights Grab
A photo competition advertised in The Times newspaper this weekend (15 August 2009 - timesonline.co.uk/photocompetition) has the following in its Ts & Cs of entry:

http://tickets2.burningman.com/info.php?i=2386

"Use of Images"

The latest move in the Guardian rights grab is that the NUJ in conjunction with the British Photographic Council has set up a petition site:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/GNMphotographers/index.html

All Editorial photographers who could possibly submit to the Guardian in the future, or who have done in the past are requested to sign.

The Guardian has written to contributors imposing revised terms:

Dear Contributor,
Re. Change to terms and conditions for commissioned photography
You will no doubt be aware that we, like every other media outlet in the UK, are experiencing very difficult trading conditions brought about by declining circulations and falling advertising revenues.

With the demise of the US Orphan Rights Bill along with the equally popular Bush adminstration in late 2008, orphan works legislation may have seemed to have slipped below the horizon.

Compulsory viewing for most clients and also a large proportion of photographers, this video has only been on YouTube 2 days and already has 300+ rave reviews.