Photographing your own furniture may be a breach of copyright!
It is getting to be bloody ridiculous. We recently had a jerk claiming copyright to the image of London Red Bus.
– Copyright abuse over who owns the image of a London red bus
Now we have a case where the French courts have found in favour of the Le Corbusier, take a photo of their furniture, or even have their furniture make an appearance in your photos, and you will find yourself in breach of copyright.
This is an e-mail sent out by Getty Images warning of possible risk of copyright breach:
Attention all Flickr Collection on Getty Images Contributors!
You may have heard about a recent case (actually more than one case) where Getty Images and some of our photographers have had claims lodged against us in French court for images which include designer furniture, even as a minor part of the image.
This is a serious issue that involves potential liability for you as photographers.
The French courts have found in favor of the Le Corbusier rights-holders who initiated these claims. While we disagree with the decision and we are appealing it, we are very mindful that for now, it is a valid decision. It is critical that you understand that any claim like this one is extremely serious and requires action on your part in order to protect your interests, not just ours. We will continue to fight this decision, but in the meantime we must continue to actively pull content from our site that may be deemed infringing. We simply cannot identify all problematic images as quickly without your active participation. And quick action is vital.
Most importantly, if you believe that any of the images you have uploaded to us might possibly include any designer furniture, please email the Getty Images ID numbers to [email redacted] as soon as possible! The sooner we can identify and remove potentially infringing images the better we can reduce potential legal problems.
We are including links to information and FAQs that give more information on this issue and we strongly request that you read them and study the visual guides included.
You can also read the original Le Corbusier complaint here:
Original in French (clearer photos)
Please note: because we are still engaged in litigation, we are very limited in what comments we can make or questions we can answer. If you do have questions please email [email redacted] especially for any specific images you believe may be a problem.
This is only for images you have on the gettyimages.com site. We cannot answer questions about images you have posted on Flickr or elsewhere.
Thank you for your help and attention to this very important matter.
I would not know a piece of Le Corbusier furniture if I tripped over it. But let us, for the sake of argument, assume I am at an upmarket hotel and take a picture of someone sat on Le Corbusier furniture and post on the net. I would immediately be in breach of copyright. Throw in Acta, and I am thrown in prison.
I can only suggest we flood the net with pictures of Le Corbusier.
We cannot sit idly by and be dictated to, criminalised by the Copyright Mafia.
– Copyright Mafia boss rails against democracy
It is imperative that we stop Acta.
Top Story in The Sue Searle Daily (Tuesday 14 February 2012).
Tags: copyright, furniture, Le Corbusier, photography, piracy
Keithpp's Blog 
February 14, 2012 at 3:05 pm |
If I purchase something, unless it is made clear to me before the purchase that I am not, I am purchasing the right to proudly display it in any manner I choose.
If the legal world disagrees with me, it must be prepared for the unpleasant experience of seeing me naked in all future photographs.