Pictoright summons Meta
Dutch copyright association Pictoright has summoned Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, for copyright infringement. The company is not fulfilling its legal obligations to visual creators represented by Pictoright.
Pictoright believes Meta should pay a fair fee for the use of images on their social media platforms. Since the summer of 2021, they have been obliged to do so: the Dutch Copyright Act was then adapted to European regulations, with the objective that platforms start paying for the use of copyrighted content. More than two years later, there is still no prospect of a licensing agreement. Stichting Pictoright, representing more than 100,000 visual authors worldwide, therefore sees no other option than to go to court.
Fair remuneration
‘Social media make a huge amount of money from advertising, thanks to the content that users upload and distribute,’ said Hanneke Holthuis, Pictoright’s head of legal affairs. ‘Much of that content is created by professional photographers, designers, illustrators, architects and visual artists – works that are protected by copyright. Their work is widely shared openly without their permission. It is only fair that the authors of these works be compensated for this, as is the case for other forms of large-scale use.’
No upload filter
The aim of the procedure is explicitly not to force Meta to remove or filter all professionally created images. Introducing an ‘upload filter’ – this was the term circulating at the time the legislation was being drafted – is not an issue as far as Pictoright is concerned. Pictoright wants to make proper arrangements with Meta, so that visual creators get a fair compensation for their mass-shared work on social media. So the term ‘upload fee’ is perhaps more appropriate. And that benefits everyone: the platforms, the people who use them and the authors of the images.
You can download the full press release here: Press release Pictoright- Meta 201223