June 3, 2010
So Orphan Works is back on the agenda.
Actually, it was never OFF the agenda, but work has been going on in the background and most of our communication since the Digital Economy Bill debate has been dedicated to the Picture Buyers’ Fair. But with that over, a new Prime Minister installed and indeed a new IP Minister in place, it’s time for your say.
Since the fall of Clause 43 from the Bill (the clause that proposed to licence Orphan Works and create Extended Collective Licensing schemes) – a number of things have happened.
Here are four key points to update you on now:
- The British Photographic Council (BPC) has met: Through this body, BAPLA, along with the likes of AOP, EPUK, NUJ and other photography groups are discussing the next stage to move the debate forward. Working through the BPC is the best way for photography groups to work together and BAPLA is absolutely committed to it. Our next meeting is in June, where we’ll be reviewing the results of BPC’s second annual photographic industry survey which was launched last week. I sent a link for BAPLA members – if you’ve yet to fill it in, then you need to click here. The survey should give us some very useful information on the photographic industry. Keep reading →
June 3, 2010
The BAPLA Rights Working Group has some early Christmas presents for those BAPLA members looking to get better at negotiating prices with buyers. We started our Grass Roots project a couple of months ago, with the aim of providing members with useage and rights information on specific sectors. This first quarter is concentrating on book publishing and our research has stumbled across some interesting facts. It’s so important we all have the best information to hand when it comes to talking money with picture buyers at the negotiating stage, and although we’re still working through our findings, there is some of our research we’d like to share with you now.
Feedback from the London Book Fair Seminars showed that publishers are as challenged by ebooks as picture libraries are, and especially concerned re piracy issues.
The ASPP conference in Boston produced an interesting dialogue on the future of content licensing, which pointed out major reductions in budgets in US educational publishers, and the need for streamlined processes.
Price is a much more important factor in this market than it used to be – typically it’s no longer the best picture that is used but the one that is good enough (and at the right price).
We have also updated our tips on fee negotiation, to produce the Top Ten Tips for Fee Negotiation, which we hope will be a very useful guide for BAPLA members negotiating fees and rights in today’s fast-moving market. This document is available from the members’ area of the BAPLA site, so do download a copy, and please remember that any feedback would be very welcome.
The next stage of this project will be to provide members with a mini-report on the state of play re pricing and rights in the books market. We aim to have that to you very soon.
June 3, 2010
Based on the feedback we’ve had, the visitor research we conducted and the fact a number of sessions were ‘standing room only’, it would certainly seem this year’s PBF seminar programme was the best we’ve staged in quite some time.
We focused on ‘The Future of Content’ and the line-up included Matt Zitzmann, a project manager for Google Images who defied ash clouds and cabin crew strikes to make it to the Barbican Exhibition Hall for both days!
Matt looked at two subjects; ‘Search for Images’ and ‘Pictures Adding Value’. Both gave an extremely unique insight into how Google view the world of images and were followed by excellent Q&A sessions with some very direct questions from the audience.
For the first time, Google Images were engaging with photographers, rights holders and image buyers in the UK. People had direct access to them, which for some was a unique opportunity to put over their fears for the industry and make their opinions heard. Keep reading →
April 15, 2010
Sentiments from all quarters around the Digital Economy Bill are riding high. Regarding Clause 43, the UK’s legislative approach to Orphan Works (OW) and their proposed management, some have turned their attention towards BAPLA and its role in the debate. We would like to make a number of things clear regarding this.
The British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies is a democratic body, run by a board that allows any member to stand for election every year. We represent the whole body of businesses that supply images and do not distinguish one business model from another. If they are professionally involved in this line of business then we welcome their membership and involvement which we hope would be active and not passive. Currently on the board, we have a broad mix of sole traders (photographers), small and medium libraries, specialist and larger libraries. Keep reading →
April 8, 2010
The highly controversial Digital Economy Bill has been passed – but without Clause 43, which was last night axed in Parliament. We welcome that a proper and thorough consultation with the government can now begin. BAPLA has worked hard to bring parts of the industry together in a bid to create a voice that makes this process of consultation both effective and representative despite how it may have been portrayed.
The position that BAPLA has worked on since we went public with our concerns on Clause 43 at the start of this year, was to assure guarantees of a full and fair consultation on our copyright from all parties, whether C43 was passed or not. Keep reading →
March 26, 2010
The Digital Economy Bill, which for us has Section 43 at the very heart of it, the section which creates powers to regulate future management of Orphan Works, Extended Collective Licensing and the management of Licensing Bodies, is currently sitting in the House of Commons.
It’s been passed to MPs from the House of Lords, where they spent around four months debating it into its current form. You can see it here:
Due to the timing of the bill, with a general election expected to be called for early May, most observers are expecting its stay in Parliament to be a very short one, before it gets pushed back to the Lords in preparation of Royal Assent, meaning the draft is allowed to become law.
Since the end of last year, BAPLA has worked hard to bring Section 43 (formally Section 42) out of the shadows and into an arena of excellent debate. Our concerns were based on the draft wording – which could prove detrimental to our industry if passed into law without clarification of many points. But, during that debate, the Intellectual Property Office (the people behind the drafting of S42/43) made a number of guarantees and assurances to us regarding the Bill’s move into law. In addition to IPO assurances, we have gained considerable more detail on the face of the Bill, especially around areas that have generated considerable debate.
Those guarantees and assurances continue to be the focus for BAPLA. Keep reading →
