UPDATE: European Parliament vote on "freedom of panorama"

Today, July 9, 2015, the European Parliament voted to remove the proposal by MEP Jean-Marie Cavada to restrict the scope of freedom of panorama in the European Union.

The result of the vote means that while the freedom of panorama won't be extended to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Italy, which currently restrict the freedom of panorama, that restriction won't be extended to the other European countries which have instituted it to their copyright law. In other words, the status quo is preserved and while rights weren't added for those without them, they weren't taken away from those who already enjoy them.

By the time the vote was taken, the online petition calling for Cavada's attempt to restrict the freedom of panorama to be thrown out had more than a half million signatures. There was a lot of power added to those MEP's fighting in the EP to at least maintain the status quo by those signatures.

Only 40 of the 751 Members of the European Parliament voted to retain the Cavada restrictions in the proposed new copyright law.

On her website, MEP Julia Reda, who proposed to extend the freedom of panorama throughout Europe wrote, “… most Europeans will continue to be able to post selfies online and view photos of famous buildings on Wikipedia unencumbered by copyright.

We must now continue to fight for an extension of important copyright exceptions such as this one to all member states.”

The next opportunity to extend the freedom of panorama through the European Union will occur at the end of the 2015 calendar year. While many are hopeful that the vote will be positive at that time, everyone should not assume it will as the conservative faction, particularly from France and Belgium, and others scattered through the European Union will fight the proposal with all the political power they can muster.

Vote on EU selfie ban set for Thursday

Do you take photos of buildings, street scenes, cityscapes, skyline panoramas, and selfies in front of famous landmarks when you travel? Do you post your photos on Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, or others?

After the European Parliament votes on “freedom of panorama” on Thursday, July 9, travelers to Europe, along with millions of Europeans might have to watch their backs after posting their photos, as the “law” could be just a few footsteps behind.

Under an “upside down” proposal to EU (European Union) copyright law, posting building photos on Facebook and alike could make travelers liable for civil penalties, and even jail.

If the proposed law passes, even if you post images solely to your own online gallery, if it has advertisements on any page with your photos, you could still be liable under the proposed law.
What is “freedom of panorama” and why should we care?

Is Taylor Swift a hypocrite?

On June 21st, music superstar, Taylor Swift wrote an open letter to Apple Inc. explaining why she was holding back her album “1989” from Apple Music, the new Apple streaming service.

In her letter, Swift decried Apple Music's free three month trial policy, during which they were not going to pay royalties for playing any music. Apple is offering the free trial to entice users to sign up and eventually pay for the streaming service, but weren't going to pay the musicians, writers, producers and others who would be owed royalties, during the trial.

In her letter to Apple, Swift said of Apple's decision,

“I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company [Apple].”

Swift went on to say,“Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.”

French court's copyright infringement decision devastating to intellectual creativity in France

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who is considered to be the father of photojournalism. He was a master of candid photography and, in my opinion, the greatest street photographer ever. He coined the expression, “The Decisive Moment,” which has inspired generations of photographers.

I can imagine that Henri Cartier-Bresson is rolling over in his grave over the French Court's ruling that Gered Mankowitz's 1967 portrait of Jimi Hendrix wasn't proved to be an original work of his, because they weren't convinced its originality was the result of choices made by Mr. Mankowitz, despite agreeing that Mr. Mankowitz did indeed make the image.