In March 2019, the Copytrack team joined the London edition of PHOTOFUTURE – a workshop series that takes place in different cities around the world and presents a look ahead to the business of images. Around 100 photographers, agencies and representatives from professional associations in the UK gathered in the iconic Shoreditch House in East London. Image experts networked and learned more about technological innovations that offer new licensing models and new ways of protecting photographic works.
Since fair remuneration is crucial to any business and to any profession, a look at the financial damage caused by image theft online provided interesting insights. In his talk on Risk-free Prosecution of Image Theft Online, COPYTRACK COO, Sandro Mäder presented the latest findings from the Global Copyright Infringement Report 2019. He not only informed the audience about the global scale of image theft but also offered fair and risk-free solutions for post-licensing and legal enforcement.
Photofuture London at Secret Garden, Shoreditch House
Talks from other industry insiders provided additional insight: Stefan Bär, CTO of Concensum, demonstrated how photographers and image producers can register the rights to their images worldwide with the help of decentralized blockchain technology. Daniel Eiba, Founder & CEO of EYESO in Lisbon, explained how blockchain technology is able to ensure fair remuneration for photographers if used in image marketing. Nick Dunmur, professional photographer and business & legal adviser of the Association of Photographers (AOP), reminded participants that despite technological challenges, creativity of photographers remains a human activity and cannot be replaced by computational activity.
It was an inspiring day for us in London. We thank all speakers and participants for an interesting exchange on the future of photography. If you would like to meet us, the next edition of Photofuture is already in the making. For our next edition of Photofuture, we’ll be heading to New York; find out more about our next installment here.
