ORG calls on public to post pics to save Freedom of Panorama

Freedom of Panorama is the right that allows us to take photos of public buildings like the Shard, the Angel of the North or the Scottish parliament without asking the artist or the architect for permission.

Although there is Freedom of Panorama in the UK, some European countries don’t have this right. The European Commission is discussing proposals that could remove this right. 

The Commission will decide whether there should be Freedom of Panorama across commercial and non-commercial use. Pictures shared on shared on commercial platforms such as Facebook, Flickr and Instagram could fall under ‘commercial use. This means that holiday snaps could be blocked, removed or the owner threatened with legal action.  

Executive Director of Open Rights Group, Jim Killock said:

“Holiday snaps of famous twentieth century buildings or public sculptures, when published online, will frequently infringe infringe copyright in different member states. This is extremely silly as well as creating legal hazards for online publishers. We need to make sure that the Commission protects the right to Freedom of Panorama and tries to restore some sanity.”

ORG is calling for a simplification of the rules to allow the European Commission to allow Freedom of Panorama across the EU for both commercial and non-commercial use.

Members of the public can post their pictures with the hashtag #SaveFoP or add this tag to existing pictures of European public buildings and works of art on Instagram and Flickr. ORG will use these to highlight to the European Commission the dangers of removing Freedom of Panorama. Submissions to the Commission on this issue can be made here: http://youcan.fixcopyright.eu

For more information go to: https://www.openrightsgroup.org/campaigns/save-freedom-of-panorama/faqs

You can view tagged pictures on Flickr here.   

Contact: press@openrightsgroup.org