TALES FROM THE APIL CONFERENCE IV: HOW PROCEDURAL CHANGES CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE IN THE REAL WORLD
This may have been a strange venue to be talking about intellectual property rights and civil procedure. However it arose because Mr Justice Birss was on the panel and he has a background in intellectual property law.
HOW CHANGES TO PROCEDURE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE TO COMMERCE
When asked about the effect of procedural changes Birss J told us how a change in procedure in the Intellectual Property Enterprise Court had led to a change in real world activity. It was becoming common practice for professional photographers to have their photos stolen and used on the internet without permission. Changes in the IPEC procedure meant that they could do something about this. As a result the practice of “stealing” photographs has reduced substantially.
THE CHANGES
The changes referred to, presumably, were the introduction of the small claims track in IPEC. This gives a relatively risk free way of seeking redress if intellectual property is misused and the value of the claim is less than £10,000.
The fact that this was introduced, and is being used, has led to change of practice. Businesses are far less likely to use photographs without seeking permission or making payment*. There is now an effective remedy that can be used.
GUIDANCE ON USING THE IPEC SMALL CLAIMS TRACK
Editorial Photographers United Kingdom and Ireland have produced some guidance available here.
Edwin Jones Photography tells – How I got £500 for the illegal use of my picture.
See also the guidance, and cases reported by the Royal Photographic Society.
THIS COULD JUST AS WELL APPLY TO “STOLEN” BLOG POSTS
Many bloggers suffer from posts being “appropriated” and used on sites without acknowledgement or reference (it has has happened to me). The small claims IPEC track may be the only effective remedy.
(*Mostphotos on this site are taken from Pixabay which provides free images for general use. Some are taken by me – and I claim the copyright in those).