Dear readers,
Some of you have noticed that the TOPOS website was offline between mid-December and the end of January. The reason for this later became evident: first through the weekmail, then during the committee meeting, and finally during the financial GMA of Genius Loci. The General Dutch Press Agency (ANP) accused us for unlawful use of one of their images, which was protected by copyright.
Collapsed store on the Marked in Den Bosch, on the 27th of February, 2016. Image: ©ANP - license provided for usage on toposonline.nl.
The above photo was used by a former editorial member in a Mooi!-publication shortly after the collapse, in 2016, long before a completely new editorial team brought the website back to life in 2023. This new team had never known about the existence of this article, let alone be aware of the fact that this image was used in the article without providing the photographer and source. That was, until one week before Christmas, an email appeared in the TOPOS inbox. ANP’s system detected their image on our website.
Immediately after the accusation, apologies were sent back, and the article was taken offline. However, ANP deemed this insufficient. The image was already used, so we had to pay up. The case involved 370 euro: triple the price of a standard image license, plus 60 euro for ‘tracking fees’. ANP did have good news: they gave us 10% discount on the total price if we would pay the fine within 10 days. Shortly before Christmas. After the editorial team had already concluded the year and its corresponding finances. The website had to be taken down immediately to prevent additional claims.
Copyright exists for a reason. We also understand that it is important to respect the intellectual property of other photographers, artists, writers, etc. and to pay for it if this person or organization requests it, or at least to provide a proper source reference. We acknowledge that a mistake has been made, and we will ensure that future images are treated more carefully, with reference to the original author. However, it should be noted that ANP is disproportionately invoking its copyright in this case. This is being dealt with in an almost commercial manner; having a triple license fee paid within a period of 10 days has put a lot of pressure on the committee, essentially forcing us to pay up immediately. A decent organisation should not milk unnecessarily high amounts of money out of our ineptness in this manner.
A quick search on the internet shows that we are not the only victim. Other, mainly small websites, have also had a similar case brought against them by ANP in the past. For fear of lawsuits and the extra costs that these entail, the fines are often simply paid immediately. We, as a committee within a small-scale study association, also do not stand a chance against a giant like ANP.
We asked ANP to propose a decent settlement amount. According to the statistics on the website, the image in question has only been viewed six times, and as a volunteer editorial team we do not make a profit. ANP did not want to know anything about that. The payment term has been extended by only a few days, and the discount has been increased to 30%, which still comes down to 200 euro for the image itself. We can only hope that this money will rightfully end up with the photographer, and not disappear into the pocket of a third party who profits from it.
The case was concluded after payment. ANP confirmed that usage of the photo 341632970.jpg from their collection is recorded and approved on our website toposonline.nl. Therefore, we are happy to share this photo with you all; it cost the study association 260 euro.
I would like to thank editors Jens, Carien, Jol, Yixin and Erik for the effort they put into solving the case. We worked hard to scan all old articles on the website for copyright, and removed potentially dangerous images. So, whatever you need images for; whether it be a website, your thesis, a video; make sure you pay close attention to the rights attached to it and that you clearly cite the author with the original source. Even if you have the right to quote, do NOT use images from ANP.
Best regards
Ian Witte
On behalf of the editorial of TOPOS
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