Hargreaves Review of Intellectual Property

Written evidence submitted by Carol Sharp

I am a renowned commercial photographer of some 25 years specialising

in flowers. My income comes from licensing my images and those of 80

other photographers through Flowerphotos Ltd, a Rights Managed Stock

Image Library I own. I also do commissioned work, for which I always

issue a licence to use.

My concerns are the following matters in Professor Hargreaves review of copyright that will adversely affect my ability to make a living:

1. The moral rights of authors are not automatically granted as in other EU countries.

2. Moral rights have still not been made unwaivable as in other EU countries.

3. No sanctions are proposed for the removal of digital copyright information from digital works.

4. The review proposes allowing orphan works to be used for commercial purposes.

5. That remedies for unauthorised use are restricted for those who have not registered their works.

6. Artists rights have not been recognised as human rights by the IP review.

1&2. The moral rights of authors are not automatically granted or unwaivable as in other EU countries.

Why do we in the UK have to assert our moral rights? This should be an automatic right granted to all UK citizens. A creator should not be asked to waive their moral rights and find their image used on something they morally object to.

3. No sanctions are proposed for the removal of digital copyright information from digital works.

Why would anyone want to remove my copyright information unless they intended to use the work without my permission?

4. The review proposes allowing orphan works to be used for commercial purposes

There is no published evidence that shows that UK industries are disadvantaged through being unable to commercially exploit orphan works. There may be a case to permit orphan works to be used for cultural purposes, such as in libraries or museums, providing that a precise definition of cultural use can be defined and agreed.

5. Remedies for unauthorised use are restricted for those who have not registered their works.

If I had to register all my thousands of works in every country in the world and, as seems likely, pay to do so, I would have even more problems finding time to pursue my profession. A universal system such as that in use by the PLUS Coalition (of which I am a member) should be used.

6. Our copyright and moral rights are artists' human rights, guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and piracy of copyright work is a breach of the copyright holder's human rights.

Furthermore, a law which enables commercial use of our work in any way without our knowledge or permission, including by wide-ranging Extended Collective Licensing (ECL), would breach our human rights as well as international copyright law, and such law is forbidden by the Human Rights Act 1988 unless the breach is in the 'general interest'

It is not in the 'general interest' to make such exceptions, as majority of the population will be negatively affected, they are all ‘photographers’ and completely unaware their images could be exploited.

5 September 2011