ECHOES is inviting cultural heritage institutions to contribute datasets to the European Collaborative Cloud for Cultural Heritage (ECCCH), with selected projects receiving up to €60,000 in funding. This initiative aims to enhance collaboration, innovation, and accessibility in the digital preservation and study of cultural heritage.

We're proud to welcome IPTC as a valued partner of CEPIC 2025, bringing their expertise in global metadata and media standards to this year’s programme. From lightning talks to hands-on workshops, IPTC’s contributions will help attendees navigate the future of image licensing, AI, and content authenticity.

CEPIC is delighted to welcome PicRights as a Silver Sponsor for CEPIC 2025, continuing their valued support by sponsoring the conference panel on infringement tracking and providing the official event lanyards once again. As a global leader in copyright enforcement services, PicRights plays a vital role in protecting the rights of press agencies, photographers, and visual content creators, and we look forward to connecting with them at this year’s event.

News updates on CEPIC 2025 and miscellaneous Industry News

CEPIC attended the Unmasking AI – Making the EU AI Act Succeed event in Brussels, where industry leaders discussed the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and fair compensation in AI model training. Patrick Lacroix, CEO of Belga, highlighted the risks of unchecked AI scraping and emphasised that without stronger protections in the AI Act, rightsholders will continue to face legal uncertainty, loss of control, and unfair exploitation of their content.

PICSEL-id is a powerful image indexing and visual search engine that uses Reverse Image Search (RIS) technology to identify images and connect users with rightful owners. Whether you're a visual creator protecting your work or an image buyer seeking proper licensing, PICSEL-id simplifies the process with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface and an expansive global database.

DVP, the Society for Press Neighbouring Rights, has signed its first agreement with Microsoft under the EU directive granting neighbouring rights to publishers and press agencies. This landmark deal ensures compensation for rights holders whose content appeared on Bing between 2019 and 2024, marking a significant step toward sustainable remuneration for press content in the digital space.

Pinterest has officially confirmed that it is using IPTC-embedded photo metadata to label AI-generated images on its platform, as reported in Social Media Today. This new feature, outlined in Pinterest’s updated user documentation, helps identify AI-generated or modified content in “Image Pins,” aligning with IPTC standards for photo metadata.