Written evidence submitted by Conor Masterson

I am a professional photographer and I have some concerns with regards to the

current Hargreaves review of Intellectual property.

I understand that you will be receiving a lot of correspondence with regards to

this matter so I will keep my concerns brief.

My position is that of a commercial and advertising photographer. I work for l arger and medium sized orga nisations. I also work with the public in my guise as a wedding and social photographer and finally I would consider my position to be that of an artist as I sell some of my works as fine art photographic prints. I am a member of the Association of Photographers in the UK (The AoP ), and the Pro Imaging Group (PI) . In my career to date I have been consulted as a contributing author of a chapter in the current AoP Industry bible ‘Beyond The Lens’ .

As a photographer who make a living sole l y from my intellectual property I am concerned that the moral rights of my images, my right to ownership as a fundamental human right, is being eroded. I believe that there is no need to make it easier to use my images without my permission. If an image of mine is in circulation without my contact details because it has been copied it should be protected. I wish to see the rights of the creator protected. Bigger businesses have the an interest and resources to use images by smaller organis ations or individuals. I believe that th e sole trader or smaller organis ation including artists and creators of intellectual property should be protected by the basic laws of the UK and the EU.

I don’t believe the current recommendations are in favour of this position. I believe that intellectual property and its protection is a vital component of our society and even if an owner is not easily recognizable it is vitally important to stress that someone does own this property and its rights should be respected wholeheartedly.

I fundamentally rely on the laws of this country to protect my rights as an owner of everything I have created. If I cannot be protected my current and future income is in jeopardy and my business model is in danger of being destroyed.

All artists through the ages have relied on the understanding that they can create and profit f r o m their creations and therefore this is a human right that must be respected. This current incarnation of the Hargreaves report does not deal with this issue properly so I reject it in its current guise and ask that a thorough report be generated that protects the rights of the creators and the small individuals who are not equipped with the same resources to protect their rights.

I rely on your positions in parliament to protect my rights as a citizen of the UK and I hope you will honour your position as a representative of the views of the people.

I would like to end by su m marising the concerns I have with the Hargreaves

document below.

· The moral rights of authors are not automatically granted as they are in other EU countries. This is a fundamental breach of our human rights. It should not be necessary to assert your moral rights as at present under UK law, this should be an automatic right granted to all UK citizens.

· Moral rights should be unwaivable .

· There has been no proposal of sanctions against those who remove digital copyr ight information from intellectu al property. All laws need enforcement and without some legislation or effective punishment there is no deterrent.

· An orphan work should not be used for commercial purposes. There is simply no need for this. There are enough images available that are recognisable to avoid this situation. A creator must be recompensed for commercial use. If the autho r cannot be found then do not use the image. It should be protected.

· It is fundamentally flawed to allow copyright information to be stripped so easily from an image and to then also allow the image to be used with no serious repercussions for misuse.

· It is completely unworkable to have any sort of copyright registration process. This is not in the interests of the creators. It will create more problems and only creates flawed and complicated bureaucracy . The rights of an image should be protected even if the author cannot be found.

· Artists rights should be respected as normal humans with normal human rights. The EU and the UN recognise this. It’s a simple concept, they are humans. See the UN stance here:

UNITED NATIONS universal declaration of Human Rights Article 27 (2) states:

1. Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.

2. Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

It is also worth noti ng a recent ruling in a UK cour t between 20th Century Fox and ‘Newsbin2’:

Copyrights are property rights protected by Article 1 of the First Protocol of the European Convention on Human Rights, as also expressed in Article 1 of the First Protocol of the Human Rights Act 1998;

piracy of copyright work is a breach of the copyright holder's human rights; the copyright holder is therefore entitled to legal redress;

and, because 'so far as possible, primary legislation and subordinate legislation must be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with human rights', legislation drafted and enacted subsequent to the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998 must also be read and given effect in a way which is compatible with human rights.

I look forward to your rejection of the Hargreaves report and a new proposal that is simple and protects our rights as humans, creators and contributors to our soci ety.

It need not be complicated and we would all benefit from a reminder that intellectual property is a vitally important part of all societies and therefore needs stringent protection. Individual creators of intellectual property are more v ulnerable as they are often sepa rated from the legal resources available to serve the interests of larger corporate entities. They depend on the government to protect their basic human rights and no more.

2 September 2011

Prepared 19th September 2011