While it is often the big corporates complaining of infringements, a recent case has the ‘little guys’ in pursuit. Inditex, the parent company of fashion chain Zara, recently pulled a line of t-shirts out of its stores after several fashion bloggers discovered that photos they had posted on their blogs were being replicated on the Inditex t-shirts without permission.

Amongst those whose photos were included in the range were Swiss blogger Michèle K (Beware of my Heals), and French bloggers Betty Autier (Le Blog de Betty) and Louise Ebel (Miss Pandora). Blogger Michèle K wrote: “They never asked me about my agreement so I'm a little bit angry about that. Not about the fact that they made a tee with my picture, just because of the fact that they did it behind my back.”

It is uncertain whether the infringement was through ignorance of the law or a deliberate exercise in the hope that noone would notice. There are some common misconceptions about the use of third-party materials, including the following:

- material on the internet is ‘free’,

- it’s ok to use other people’s work as long as you ‘make a few changes’.

According to a report in The Guardian [1], Inditex commissioned an outside designer to create the designs. A spokesman for Inditex was quoted in the report saying, "We are trying to work out exactly what the situation with these shirts is. The company we used should have got the rights. That would be the norm."

This case serves as warning to businesses that commission external designers on the importance of having a close working relationship with such contractors. Companies need to ensure that commissioned designers work within the relevant laws, otherwise they might be held liable and ultimately suffer the consequences.

For the full Guardian news report see:

[1] http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/15/spain-fashion-inditex-tshirts-bloggers

To view some of the offending t-shirts, see:

http://www.leblogdebetty.com/en/2010/05/22/zara-we-have-a-problem/

http://www.misspandora.fr/zara-we-have-a-problem-la-suite/?lang=en

http://beware-of-my-heels.blogspot.com/2011/02/we-have-problem.html

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Speaking at the Blue Sky Conference in Sydney last week, Australian Attorney-General Robert McClelland confirmed his preference for a review of Australian copyright law and listed the ‘safe harbour’ provisions in Australia’s Copyright Act as one of the matters in need of attention.

Australia’s safe harbour provisions limit court remedies for authorisation of infringement by an internet access provider if the provider has taken adequate steps to comply with the law. Currently, these provisions refer to Carriage Service Providers only, however, the Attorney-General stated that the Government would consult on whether eligibility for safe harbour should be extended to include other companies providing online services but not network access (e.g. Google, Yahoo).

The Attorney-General also pointed to an imminent review of exceptions to allow circumvention of technological protection measures (TPMs) for reasons of public interest. He said that the Copyright Advisory Group was calling for an additional exception for circumvention, to allow schools to change the format of films from DVD to MP4 for teaching purposes.

Speaking the day after the Full Federal Court appeal decision on iiNet, the Attorney-General also spoke of the need to find a solution to the problem of online infringement. The Government’s preference remained an industry-negotiated solution, however, if this could not be achieved the Government would consider the options for appointing a mediator.

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The UK film and television industry has launched a new campaign this week, Moments Worth Paying For, to “win the hearts and minds” of film lovers. The campaign is designed to change the behaviour of the one in three people in the UK who reportedly download unauthorised versions of movies.

The new campaign consists of emotionally charged, cinematic ads designed to inspire people to do the right thing. Importantly, it provides information on how to do this, by linking to the website findanyfilm.com, which catalogues a variety of legitimate film and television providers.

According the Industry Trust for IP Awareness (creators of Moments Worth Paying For), positive awareness campaigns have proven very effective in reducing copyright infringement in the UK. Their surveys show that the number of people who believe downloading unauthorised material is wrong has risen from 34 percent of those surveyed in 2007 to 54 per cent today.

For the full story, http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-business/article-23922979-drive-to-stop-copyright-infringement-set-for-tv-and-film.do

www.Findanyfilm.com

Or visit http://www.copyrightaware.co.uk/ for information on previous campaigns

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