Hi Suzanne at al
In terms of fees that are charged - in the first instance, whilst the
rights holder can only charge the fee that they would have charged -
however, as I understand, unless the rights holder is a copyright
collecting society, they can charge what they want...This would be for
the use of the images without permission and they would also be
entitled to demand that the images are taken down. (NB: If images are
being used in print form, then the rights holder can demand that books,
products etc are destroyed). I guess that the rights holder might also
use the argument that the use of the work is prejudicial to their
interests and potentially charge damages on top (particularly if no
immediate action is taken or fees are not paid - see my point below).
There are subsequently, a number of issues which flow from this, which
make the issue more complex:
a) The organisation using the infringing images would need to prove
that what they are being charged is what people would normally pay (the
two can vary considerably)
b) It is not uncommon for anyone else who is using the images supplied
by the organisation, such as funding bodies, to also be caught up in
this and be charged by the rights holder
c) If the organisation in question refuses to pay because it may be
too expensive etc, does nothing etc, the rights holders could seek
other recourse of action, such as injunctions etc plus bump up the fees
and damages
d) There is, I believe a long way to go before court action, as
referenced by Frankie, but the costs of additional fees which may have
been unaccounted for in budgets, damages to relationship with rights
holders (who might also be lenders of works, collecting societies etc
etc) and funding bodies (which might also result in a breach of
contract) is quite hard to assess
e) Issues of damage to repute and trust and also worth mentioning
Whilst I am not of a habit of scare-mongering, but whilst being
pragmatic, we also need to be realistic, get a bit of a reality check
and bear in mind that it’s the "hidden" ramifications as above which
often got forgotten when assessing risk and risks will vary according
to the type of content that we are using. In answer to Mike, yes, we
are small cultural heritage sector, but its all the things that do not
go to court t(as above) that we don't officially hear about that we are
more likely to get caught up in
Best
Naomi
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