Lee Miller Archive

COPYRIGHT ISSUES

Please note: The Lee Miller Archive takes no responsibility for the interpretation of this document by third parties. It is offered only on an informal level as a guideline to current legislation and it must be noted that it is subject to change.

What is Copyright?

Copyright is an intellectual property right. It is an automatic right afforded to a creator giving them economic rights of control over copying, adaptation, issuance of copies to the public, performance and broadcasting. The creator also has the moral rights of paternity (the right to be identified), integrity (the right to object to any derogatory treatment of their work), privacy and the right not to have a work falsely attributed.

Copyright protects original literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works as well as sound recordings, films, broadcasts, cable programmes, published editions, computer generated works and computer programs. Therefore a creator can be an artist, photographer, musician, author and so on. It is important to note that there may be multiple copyrights in a work.

All photographs supplied by the Archive are copyrighted. The Archive either owns this copyright in the photograph or acts as the authorised agent of the copyright holder. A licence must be obtained from the Archive before any reproduction is made or this will constitute an infringement of copyright.

There may also be other copyright clearances that need to be obtained before reproducing an image or text. With images or text from the Lee Miller Archive there is a copyright on the photograph as well as there possibly being copyright in the subject of the photograph. For example, in a Lee Miller photograph of Picasso, if an example of the artist's work is visible in the photograph additional clearance will have to be sought for that work with the Picasso estate or their agents.

The Archive will advise you on any further copyright clearances that need to be sought whenever it can.

When acting on the Archive's advice to clear an additional copyright this must not be confused with clearing reproduction permission.

The information below sets out the basic principles behind clearing the artists copyright. Please do not hesitate to call us if you have any queries on the subject.

When does Copyright apply?

There was a European Council Directive 93/98/EEC of 29th October 1993 to harmonise the term of protection of copyright and related rights in member states. One of the most significant recommendations was the duration clause which stated that the copyright period of protection should be life of the creator plus 70 years. Previously national laws ranged from life + 50 years in the UK to life + 80 years in Spain.

Out of this directive in the UK came the D.T.I.'s Statutory Instrument (SI 1995) to amend the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. This came into force on 1st January 1996 under the title The Duration of Copyright and Related Rights in Performance Regulations 1995 (SI 1995 No. 3297)

There are two main points of the SI 1995:

1) Duration. This has changed from life + 50 years in the UK to life + 70 years. The legislation is retrospective and therefore a distinction has been made between existing and revived copyright. On revived works the copyright holder does not enjoy a right of veto, but only a right to reasonable remuneration and moral rights (explained in the section What is Copyright?).

2) Reciprocity. This states that where the country of origin or the nationality of the creator of a work is not a country in the EEA the period of protection of that work is that to which the work is entitled in the country of origin.

Note also that due to the directive being retrospective, there may be slightly different rules in each country for a few years to come.

The duration of copyright in the United Kingdom is life of the creator plus 70 years. This is the same in all EEA countries due to a copyright directive which has been implemented in all member states of the EC.

It must be noted however, that because this is new legislation (the legislation was implemented in the UK in January 1996) each member state has had to accommodate old duration periods in their legislation and therefore circumstances may differ slightly from country to country for the next few years.

Another very important thing to remember about copyright is that it is a national right and each country has different copyright legislation. Although the EU Harmonisation has gone some way to bringing Europe in line, different copyright periods apply when publishing in countries outside Europe.

How do you clear Copyright?

In order to use a copyrighted work you must first have the permission of the copyright holder. This will be either the creator himself, the creator's family or estate, or an authorised representative of the copyright holder such as a solicitor or collecting society.

The Lee Miller Archive acts as authorised copyright holder some photographers and artists, in which case we can do all the work for you, by clearing the permission and simply adding an extra fee to your bill. Our picture researchers will advise you whether this is the case when you apply for reproduction rights.

We must remind you that clearing copyright is the publisher's responsibility. It is a legal obligation and must be taken seriously.