The Importance of Article 13b
Who we are?
CEPIC represents hundreds of Picture Libraries and Agencies representing hundreds of thousands of photographers whose core business is the direct licensing of visual content off-line and online. Acting as right holders, Picture Libraries and Agencies license digital asset for all kinds of commercial uses, to newspapers, magazines, advertising, broadcasters, etc. CEPIC members are continuously adaptive towards innovative technology solutions for the growth in digital enterprises and have developed sophisticated digital platforms to both market digital content online and provide digital access to images. Amongst CEPIC members are global players such as Getty Images, Magnum or Alamy, fine arts libraries such the Bridgeman Library, historical archives such as Roger-Viollet and Fratelli Alinari, news photo syndication such as Le Figaro, news agencies such as Belga, TT or DPA as well as representatives for European trade associations AEAPAF, BAPLA, BLF, BVPA, SAB, and SNAPIG.
CEPIC has been a member of the International Press and Telecommunication Council (IPTC) since 2005 and is a founding member of its Photo Metadata Working Group.
What Is the Problem?
Images are widely shared online via search engines, social media and other aggregators. They contribute to the vibrant and engaging Internet we enjoy today. Search engines are useful intermediaries between users and content providers. However, we also see is that in recent years the intermediary function has declined while alleged “free” content was used for own profit by the platforms, with no value going back to the individual author or to the right holder in the value chain contributing to its valorisation.
Search engines, in particular, participate to a large extent to a high level of image piracy: according to statistics of CEPIC members, 85% of pictures found online by visual search systems are unlawful copies and 80% of those illegal images have been spread through search engines. Images are delivered, not as simple URLs or as thumbnails linking to the source websites where images are displayed, but more often in a large high-resolution format framed from the source website, thus obviating the need for a user to visit the source website. The images may be downloaded and widely shared on other platforms. Piracy has a negative effect on image prices: images are seen as less valuable so that authors and picture agencies find it impossible to sell exclusive licenses due to the high amount of illegal copying and framing. Nevertheless, images are increasingly used by search engines as a support to product search of internet users i.e. as a support of the advertising business model of search engines.
In a nutshell:
1. the value derived from direct image licensing decreases as images lose value due to increased image piracy online, fuelled by image search engines;
2. the value derived from new business models based on advertising and the use of data of internet users remains with the search engine platforms using images as a support in general and product search.
What Is the Solution?
The European Parliament has recognized the specific problem of images used by image search engines and has proposed an amended Article 13 b) providing for the obligation for image search engines to conclude licenses with “any requesting rightholders”.
Article 13 b) is therefore complementary to Article 13 (Transfer of Value). Article 13 covers platforms with user uploaded content while Article 13b covers search engines which use robots to crawl and scrape content from listed Websites.
Article 13 b) provides for a diversity of licensing solutions
Article 13 b) allows search engines to share their profits with authors and rights holders without interfering with their functionalities. A combination of direct licensing and collective licensing would be flexible enough to adapt to the dynamic of the market and allows the conclusion of sustainable agreements addressing both users’ and rightholders’ concerns.
Article 13 b) would be an extremely positive step towards allowing image authors and other rightsholders to share in the value that their creations generate for image search engines. But it shouldn’t stop there, we would also urge the next Commission to address the situation more broadly, to require all websites that display large size images using “framing technology” to license the right to do so, whilst also introducing a new exception for all other types of hyperlinks for all types of copyright content where used purely for legitimate navigational purposes.
20.10.2018
About CEPIC
CEPIC is a European not-for-profit trade association in the field of image rights. CEPIC was founded in 1993 to present a unified voice to advise and lobby on new legislation emerging from Brussels. It was registered as an EEIG (Economic European Interest Group) in Paris in 1999. As the Centre of the Picture Industry, CEPIC brings together nearly 600 picture agencies and photo libraries in 20 countries across Europe, both within and outside the European Union. Through its membership of picture agencies and libraries, CEPIC represents more than 250.000 authors in direct licensing.
CEPIC’s members are expert in the conservation and marketing of imagery. They have been digitising content from the advent of the Internet, making the resulting digital asset available for commercial use, such as to newspapers, magazines and broadcasters, off and on-line, as well as in non- commercial environments for the purposes of research and education. Picture agencies and photo libraries also act as commercial rights management service providers on behalf of creators.
CEPIC achieved observer status at WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation) in 1997. Other current memberships involve: IPTC (since 2005), Creativity Works! (since 2014), FairSearch (since 2016), The Open Internet Project OIP (since 2018)
President is Alfonso Gutierrez (president@cepic.org)
Executive Director is Sylvie Fodor (s.fodor@cepic.org)
The CEPIC Office is located in Berlin, Germany