Independent accused in Flickr copyright row

The Independent has been championing the rights of photographers being stopped from taking pictures by the police using terror laws.

But according to Peter Zabulis it is failing to support the rights of photographers not to have their copyright breached.

Zabulis ( PeteZab)  has posted on Flickr: "The Independent is a national and commercial newspaper in the UK. On the 5 – 6 January 2010 they used the Flickr API to search for and display images of snow scenes in the UK – amongst those images displayed was one of mine which is clearly marked on Flickr as “all rights reserved”. They did not seek my permission for the use of my image. I am assuming they used the API without applying a filter on the licence type, this also means that other UK photographers may have had their copyrighted work used without permission; might be worth checking if you had any refers from the Independent on those days."

He has posted a summary of the messages that have been exchanged between himself  and the editorial director for digital at the Independent and adds: "I found their initial reply both surprising and alarming."

This was: "We took a stream from Flickr which is, as you know, a photo-sharing website. The legal assumption, therefore, is that you were not asserting your copyright in that arena. We did not take the photo from Flickr, nor present it as anything other than as it is shown there. I do no consider, therefore, that any copyright has been breached or any payment due."