IPC in another copyright grab

Yet another copyright story, and something that’s worth remembering whenever big media companies talk about protecting content creators. According to a discussion on the editorial photographers’ mailing list, IPC (publisher of NME and Uncut, among others) is about to launch new, digital versions of some of its titles, which will be available as PDF downloads from a subscription service. As a result, it has been writing to photographers and saying (I’ll paraphrase):

When you sell us photos, they’re sold for use in our print publications. But we’re going to use them in the digital versions too, and we’re buggered if we’re going to pay extra for that. Ner ner ner ner ner.

As you’d expect, the photographers’ trade association (the British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies) isn’t amused: it’s taken legal advice and informed members that their sales to IPC are for print only, and that any digital use requires further payment.

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