In the Netherlands it will be more difficult to publish
photographic collections on internet. A ruling from the Amsterdam court judged
that copyright from an individual photographer is more important than digital
access to collections. The ruling will make it more difficult for memory
institutes to publish photographs online.
A Dutch photographer had started a court case against the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam. Without
permission the institute put 221 photographs of the photographer publically online as a
digital catalog, though small and in low resolution with name and source. The
institute is digitising its collection and has already put 70.000 photographs
of its archives online. The
photographer claimed 50.000 euro.
According to the ruling memory institutes need to get
explicit permission from the copyright holder before putting pictures publically online. They can make
use collective agreements with copyright organisation Pictoright. But the court
put aside the financial claim as disproportional as only 7 photographs had been
viewed 49 times.
With the ruling the court confirms that memory institutions
have the right to digitise photographs in their collection and can make them
viewable also to visitors internally, meaning on their own premises. Making
them publically available online is not allowed, unless with permission.
The court case will be a handicap for memory institutions.
But on the other hand the institutions do not have to fear extravagant claims.
(The claim reminds of the copyright claims of three Dutch freelancers who in
1997 claimed 300 percent on top of their fee for a newspaper republishing their
articles on CD-ROM and online).
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