Emily Shelley, the newly elected President, expresses her gratitude to members for their support and emphasises the significant impact of AI in the industry. She highlights the board's commitment to ensuring a positive shift, lobbying for transparency, copyright protection, and ethical use of generative AI.

We are thrilled to share that the Fédération Nationale des Agences de Presse Photos et Informations (F.N.A.P.P.I.) has successfully signed a significant framework agreement with Google on neighbouring rights. The agreement, inked on November 7, 2023, underlines the commitment to protecting content under the European Copyright Directive.

Following the EGM on 23rd November 2023, CEPIC confirmed a newly elected Board to serve the 2023-2025 term. We extend a warm welcome to our new President, Emily Shelley, Vice President, Gilles Devicq and newly appointed Treasurer, Sergi Griño.

We are looking forward to the elections this Thursday at our headquarters in Brussels. It is with a mixture of sadness and pride that I step down as President of CEPIC when my term ends, after what has been an important two years as President, overseeing significant changes in our organisation...

These are the main documents you need for the CEPIC EGM 2023.

The IPTC Sports Content Working Group introduces IPTC Sport Schema version 1.0, a groundbreaking standard for sports data management. This new schema, replacing SportsML, adopts a data-centric approach, offering up-to-date formats, easy querying, and support for emerging trends like e-sports. Read on for more...

In a bold move against AI encroachment, artists are adopting disruptive tools like Nightshade to inject a "poison pill" into their works, confounding future AI models. These innovative tactics signify a rising rebellion as artists strive to protect their creations in an era of evolving technology. Read on for more...

AI Act Negotiations up-date

In a resolute display of solidarity and support, the European Alliance of News Agencies (EANA) condemns the recent violent incident that targeted the Bureau of Agence France-Presse (AFP), a valued member of CEPIC, in Gaza City on November 2nd. This brazen attack, which resulted in significant damage to AFP's infrastructure, underscores the critical need to safeguard journalistic integrity and the safety of media professionals. The following press release is shared on behalf of EANA, reaffirming our commitment to supporting our esteemed member organisations like AFP and championing a free and secure press globally.

In a major industry development, SmartFrame Technologies, the pioneering UK-based image streaming technology provider, has announced the appointment of Alan Capel as its Chief Commercial Officer. With an impressive career spanning over 30 years in the image licensing industry, Capel brings a wealth of experience to his new role.

In a bid to unravel the endless possibilities and challenges brought forth by generative artificial intelligence (AI), the European Coalitions for Cultural Diversity (ECCD) and the Cultural Creators Friendship Group (CCFG) are joining forces. Read on for more...

In the fast-paced world of digital asset management, industry leaders and innovators converge to explore the future of visual content at Activo’s November event. CEPIC proudly attends as a silver sponsor and is looking forward to joining this dynamic gathering, contributing to the dialogue on transformative technologies and ethical practices within the realm of generative artificial intelligence and digital asset management.

In a monumental stride toward combating misinformation and preserving the authenticity of visual content, renowned camera manufacturer Leica has introduced the world's first camera with built-in Content Credentials – the Leica M11-P. In this era of advanced technology and rampant misinformation, ensuring the integrity of digital content has never been more crucial.

The comprehensive analysis of the news agencies industry in 2022 reveals interesting trends and developments within the news agency business. The report provides valuable insights into the financial dynamics, strategies, and challenges that defined the media landscape during the past year. The study has been run by EANA in partnership with the Università della Svizzera Italiana (USI) in Lugano, Switzerland, among EANA’s 32 members, all leading news agencies in European countries.

In view of the upcoming Trilogue meeting on October 24, GESAC has issued a statement emphasising the importance of record-keeping and transparency obligations concerning the use of copyright-protected content by generative AI models. These obligations are crucial to ensuring responsible and trustworthy AI systems, creating a level playing field, and fostering European innovation and artistic creation. Read on for the full statement.

CEPIC, International Association of the Media Licensing Industry, is pleased to announce the release of version 2 of its AI Ethical Guidelines for Responsible Re-Use and Production of Visual Content. The Guidelines are now also available in French. The Guidelines provide a framework for ethical and responsible use of AI in the Re-Use and Production of visual content.

In a significant development for image rights owners, the IPTC Photo Metadata Standard 2023.1 has introduced a solution to the growing concern of generative AI using copyrighted assets without permission. Many rights holders found their images being utilised as training data for AI image creators, prompting the need for a standardised way to express that such use is prohibited.

In a letter signed by 70 professional organisations in France, including CEPIC's members the UPP and SAPHIR, the creative industry has, in the context of the Trilogue on the draft European Regulation on artificial intelligence, the AI Act, turned to the French Prime Minister calling for France's strong commitment on behalf of the cultural and creative sector.

In a pivotal meeting with DG Connect - Copyright Unit, CEPIC emphasised the need for transparent and ethical AI practices. We champion responsible AI legislation, ensuring competitiveness while upholding global ethical standards. Stay tuned for updates on our proactive initiatives in shaping a morally sound AI landscape.

In the fast-paced world of AI, our recent participation in the Trilogue Negotiations on the AI Act in Brussels highlighted a critical topic: transparency. At CEPIC, our speaker, Emily Shelley, MD of Alamy, emphasised the importance of clear rules for AI companies.

Vecpho will celebrate an event in Bangkok focused on stock media professionals on October 28th, 2023. The main goal of this event is to create a space where we, as a representative agency, stock media professionals and stock media sites can connect and share experiences together. It will consist of a day with current talks, round tables, workshops, questions and answers to industry leaders, networking, presentation of new developments and much more.

CEPIC, International Association of the Media Licensing Industry, is pleased to announce the release of its AI Ethical Guidelines for Responsible Re-Use and Production of Visual Content.

The guidelines cover a wide range of topics, including data protection, bias, accountability and explainability. They provide practical recommendations to help individuals and organisations working in the visual media industry ensure that AI is used ethically and responsibly.

AI image generation technology opens up exciting creative possibilities for our customers, but it must be approached in the right way to protect the interests of Alamy content creators. As part of our commitment to exploring ethical opportunities within AI we are pleased to announce our participation in the ‘The Fair Diffusion Program’.

Bridgeman Images, the world's leading source for licensing fine art, cultural, and historical media for reproduction, is thrilled to unveil a key industry collaboration with the Reuters Pictures Archive.

DOCUMENTS AND INFORMATION FOR THE Extraordinary General Meeting

Independent visual content provider, EPA Images, today announces a five-year partnership with Canon Europe to renew and update its photography and videography equipment to confront the challenges in a changing world.

We are thrilled to announce our newest member to the CEPIC family, the esteemed news photography agency, INQUAM. Founded in 2013 by Ovidiu Micsik, INQUAM embarked on a remarkable journey with a mission to provide a safe haven for photographers affected by the aftermath of the 2008 crisis.

We are happy to confirm the date of the Extraordinary Annual General Meeting (EGM) of CEPIC A.I.S.BL. This year's meeting holds particular significance as it will include the election of a new Board to lead our organization into the future.

Getty Images (NYSE: GETY), a preeminent global visual content creator and marketplace, today announced the launch of Generative AI by Getty Images, a new tool that pairs the company’s best?in?class creative content with the latest AI technology for a commercially safe generative AI tool.

SmartFrame Technologies’ image-streaming network grows by 200 million images, thanks to a new partnership with Action Press International. This landmark collaboration sees SmartFrame’s image-streaming network now offering publishers around the world over 620 million embeddable images, free of charge.

We are thrilled to announce that CEPIC is once again proud to be a sponsor of OnDAM Paris, the premier Digital Asset Management (DAM) conference in Paris, France. This marks the third consecutive year of our support for this dynamic event.

Hello, CEPIC community! We are thrilled to introduce you to our newest team member, Lauren Fowler, who joins us as a Virtual Assistant. Lauren brings a wealth of experience, a passion for travel, and a commitment to supporting businesses like ours.

Bridgeman Images, the world's leading specialists in licensing fine art, cultural, and historical media for reproduction, are delighted to announce an exclusive partnership with ElmonX, experts at the forefront of NFT art.

At IPTC we receive many requests for help and advice regarding editing embedded photo and video metadata, and this has only increased with the recent news about the IPTC Digital Source Type property being used to identify content created by a generative AI engine.

AFP is one of the world's three major news agencies and the only one in Europe. Its mission is to provide rapid, comprehensive, impartial and verified coverage of the news and issues that shape our daily lives.

CEPIC joins 70 networks & organisations to support Culture Action Europe's Joint Initiative to secure a fair share for culture in the European Union's recovery envelope.

In this post you will find from September 2023 on key documents of Creativity Works! These documents are for CEPIC members information and may not be published outside the platform.

We are thrilled to be able to announce with good notice the return of the CEPIC Congress to the stunning shores of Juan Les Pins, Antibes from the 14th to 17th May 2024!

This is not very often that we get feedback on our lobbying efforts. For this reason I am happy to share with you the testimony of Octav Ganea, who was on a panel at CEPIC 2023 reviewing the implementation of the EU copyright Directive.

In the context of the annual budget procedure for 2024, the Council of the EU has proposed to reduce the financial envelope of Creative Europe by 40 million EUR.

The current CEPIC’s Board 2 year term is coming to an end shortly and we will be seeking to elect a new Board.

On 5th September, the French Ministry of Culture is organising an AI workshop within the conference programme "Culture and Digital Technology: a Permanent Revolution?" presented by the think tank "Think Culture!" at the Pompidou Center in Paris. CEPIC, IMATAG, the Agency VU', the ADAGP, the Gobelins School, ARCOM (French public regulatory authority for audiovisual and digital communication).

At the CEPIC Annual General Meeting on 27th June, one of the decisions had been that CEPIC supports EVA in their negotiations with VEGAP. ON 02nd August, the attached letter has been sent to Carola Streul who is EVA's secretary general.

On 25th July the AI working group and the Board of CEPIC attended an exclusive information webinar on the Robert Kneschke v.LAION case. In this post you will find the link to the recording. The CEPIC AI working group is extending and as a consequence will be restructutred with several sub-groups. Do not hesite to contact us if you are interrested!

Europe has a unique opportunity to show global leadership on an AI framework.

Documents of the CEPIC AGM of 27th June 2023

On 6th July at 17.00 H within the framework of the prestigious Arles photo festival CEPIC will take part in a round table on the ethical and legal challenges around generative AI.

vAIsual Inc, the company behind the largest visual dataset collection in the world, today launched the first of it’s non-biometric datasets, consisting of over 130,000 images of elephants, dogs and birds.

Thanks to Activo the recordings of all the sessions is available!

It was a very nice, inspiring and friendly conference in Antibes with CEPIC (Center of the Picture Industry), who had asked me to explain how the EU Copyright Directive 2019/790 has been implemented in Germany, with regard to photographers' and image rights

[London, 26 May 2023] – Alamy, the renowned provider of high-quality stock imagery and innovative solutions, regrets to announce the departure of Alan Capel, Director of Transformation, after an exceptional tenure of twenty years. Alan's contributions and dedication have played a pivotal role in shaping Alamy's success and establishing its prominent position within the industry.

The Annual General Meeting of CEPIC will take place online on 27th June 2023 from 15 H to 16 H CET.

The panel was organized by GESAC, Authors Society (CMOS) , for 90 % music but the ADAGP is a member too, in addition to being a member of EVA.

The Antipolis Convention Center of Juan les Pins, selected by CEPIC to hold its next Congress in May 2023, is now certified ISO 20121.

For delegates of the CEPIC Congress 2023: using this link and facial recognition, you will find photos of yourself from our two great photographers: Kayna Baugh and Stephen Rafferty.

What is a representation agency for microstockers for?

EPA Images and action press have expanded their EPA global video service distribution cooperation to include the entire German-speaking region.

Premier partner for transformative brands, newsrooms and media companies joins as that Platinum Sponsor of Sofia-Antipolis based congress, the first technopol in Europe.

SmartFrame joins Partners & Sponsors of CEPIC 2023

CEPIC is delighted to announce that world-renowned photographer Boris Eldagsen has confirmed that he will be the feature speaker at the upcoming CEPIC 2023 Congress, to be held in Antibes, France from 10th to 12th May. Mr Eldagsen made AI headlines around the world when he declined the prestigious Sony World Photography Award only this month on the grounds that it was #AI generated.

vAIsual Inc, the company behind the largest visual dataset collection in the world, today signed a content deal with Vietnam-based Dragonimages.

In celebration of the broadening of our organisation, CEPIC is delighted to welcome Envato’s CEO, Hichame Assi to give the Keynote Address to open Congress on Wednesday 10th May 2023 in Antibes, France, on a Vision for the Future : Where Creativity meets Technology and celebrates a brave and inclusive new world.

In 2022 the European Pressphoto Agency B.V. passed through a rebrand of its name and is now referred to as EPA Images. In 2023 it becomes a CEPIC associate member.

CEPIC announces ground-breaking AI Day at Congress 2023 in Antibes in May 2023, at the core of Sofia-Antipolis, the first technopol in Europe, highlighting the Advancements in AI for the international Visual Communications industry.

picturemaxx becomes a CEPIC member.

Dreamstime, the world's largest stock photo community, announced today that it reached 200 million online files uploaded by its now 1 million contributors.

On 21st of February at 16.00 CET CEPIC is proposing a free webinar on the Licensable Badge. The Google Licensable Badge is a visual indicator that displays on images within Google Image Search results when the image is available for licensing. It was developed in cooperation with CEPIC and other organisations such as DMLA and IPTC.

This article links to the documentation for the EGM on 1st December 2022

… Covid-19 Pandemic photos dominate winning categories …

vAIsual Inc, pioneers in legally clean training datasets for AI, today signed a deal with The Middle Frame, a leading provider of stock photographs of Arabian people and culture.

Universal Images Group has acquired Marka.

On December 15, 2022, following a three-day trial, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California returned a verdict of $1.175 million in damages in favor of a photographer represented by The Law Firm of Higbee & Associates.

CEPIC welcomes one additional member in 2022: Vecpho, a microstock agency from Spain.

CEPIC is proud to announce that Abacapress is now an associate member of CEPIC!

akg-images have been appointed the exclusive global agent for the Werner Forman Archive collection.

Do you want to know more about the next CEPIC Congress in Antibes/ Juan les Pins? Come and join us online on Thursday 1st December from 15.00 H to 16.00 H CET.

Alamy supports Google development team with the implementation of Schema.org image rights metadata

This year again CEPIC is a partner of OnDAM Paris because DAMs are the backbone of picture agencies.