<
https://www.techdirt.com/2023/03/15/copyright-means-you-may-need-permission-to-post-photos-of-your-own-home-online/>
"One of the life’s certainties is that copyright maximalism will continue to
encourage absurd rulings by complaisant courts. Here’s a rather spectacular
case from Germany. It involves a “photo wallpaper”. For those of you who – like
me – aren’t quite sure what that means, it is the name given to wallpapers that
are essentially huge, blown-up images based on photographs. In this particular
instance, photo wallpaper was used to decorate a holiday flat. As is normal for
such situations, the owner took pictures to entice people to rent the property,
including images of the room with the photo wallpaper, which was clearly
visible in the online marketing materials. Here’s how things went as a result,
reported by
Pinsent Masons:
The flat owner had purchased the wallpaper in 2013 at a price of €13.50. In
2020, the flat owner received a cease-and-desist letter: the photographer,
who held the copyright to the tulip photos used for the wallpaper,
considered that his rights to the images had been infringed and demanded the
flat owner to stop reproducing the photographs on the internet. The owner of
the holiday flat refused to sign the cease-and-desist declaration and the
case went to court.
The photographer explained that he had given permission for his photos – of
tulips, apparently – to be used for a wallpaper. But he had only given
permission for the use of the photo as wallpaper, and claimed that further
permission to display his image was required if a photo of it were put online.
Unfortunately the Cologne Regional Court agreed with this interpretation. It’s
a ruling that could have important ramifications for anyone taking pictures of
furnished rooms, as the
Pinsent Masons post explains:
the ruling is not only relevant in relation to photo wallpapers, but could
also be extended to other furnishing items that create an atmosphere, such
as pictures, sculptures or designer furniture.
This case is yet another example of copyright gone mad, with additional
authorization being required for perfectly normal and harmless activities that
no rational person would regard as requiring permission or payment."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
