In June 2022 the Intellectual Property Office in the Uk published its response to its consultation on Intellectual Property
Artificial Intelligence and IP: copyright and patents – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
Following this response, the UK government intends to amend copyright law to make it “easier to analyse material for the purpose of machine learning, research and innovation” and “for the public good” (sic.). For this purpose they propose the introduction of a wide Text and Data Mining exception that would allow for websites to be scrapped for AI purposes, including commercial purposes and with no return to the holders of rights on the creative works being scrapped. The Text and Data Mining exception proposed by the UK government goes further than the TDM exception of the EU Copyright Directive, which allows the free scrapping of websites for research purposes only while copyright holders may opt out.
CEPIC strongly believes that such a wide exception would not only undermine the sustainibility of the UK creative industry, one of the most vibrant and successful worldwide, but also the creation of a responsible and sustainable AI in the UK. Responsible AI is sustainable AI. AI generated products can not be created by abusing rights of other parties invloved in the process, be it individual rights such as bio-metric rights or authors’s rights.
CEPIC has therefore joined the chor of several other organisations including Getty Images, the AOP, DACS, the BCC, the Copyright Alliance, just to name a few, and has sent the attached letter to the UK Office of Intellectual Property.
About CEPIC
CEPIC represents hundreds of Picture Libraries and Agencies, representing hundreds of thousands of photographers, videographers and increasingly synthographers, whose core business is the direct licensing of visual content off-line and online. Acting as right holders, Picture Libraries and Agencies license digital asset for all kinds of commercial uses, to newspapers, magazines, advertising, broadcasters, etc. CEPIC members are continuously adaptive towards innovative technology solutions for the growth in digital enterprises and have developed sophisticated digital platforms to both market digital content online and provide digital access to images. Amongst CEPIC members are global players such as Getty Images, Magnum Photos, and Alamy, fine arts libraries such the Bridgeman Images, historical archives such as Roger-Viollet and AKG Images, news photo syndication such as Le Figaro, news agencies such as Belga, TT or ANP as well as representatives for European trade associations AEAPAF, BAPLA, BLF, SAB, SAPHIR and SNAPIG. CEPIC’s membership also includes several cutting-edge technology developers, some of them involved in manipulating images with AI driven tools, others in creating/ producing AI generated images
