epa signs an agreement for photo copyrights protection with Permission Machine
Frankfurt/Main, August 23, 2021
Frankfurt - The European Pressphoto Agency (epa) has signed an agreement with the Belgium-based Permission Machine (PM) for the photo copyright protection and pursuit of infringement of its entire photo collection of news photography.
PM specializes in the scanning and legal follow up of illegal publications. PM offers a combination of state-of-the-art image tracking technology, manual checks and inhouse legal expertise which is the perfect fit in order to protect the copyrights of epa's photography. PM solved thousands of infringements in the past years.
Currently PM is matching the 10 million epa images against usages in various countries in Europe and in the US to confirm that the images are licensed, either directly by epa or through its shareholders and distributors. All parties that publish epa images without permission will receive a compensation proposal from epa/PM.
"PM provides a state-of-the-art system to protect our copyrights. It is very important that each publisher, wherever in this world, understands that the usage of images is not for free.” said Julia R. Arévalo, President and CEO of epa.
“We have hundreds of professional photographers working at epa all over the world, often in the most hazardous situations. This production is very costly and generates an instant feed of news all over the world. This cannot be free of charge.” said Arévalo.
"We are very proud of our brand-new cooperation with epa. We care about more than just plain copyright enforcement, so we put a lot of time and effort into manually checking the way the image got used. Our reputation is very firm but fair, and I think this combination makes us a good match for epa.", said Ywein van den Brande, CEO of Permission Machine.
ABOUT EPA: epa is one of the five major visual content providers in the world, with an expansive network of award-winning photographers and videographers providing an original perspective on the news that shapes the world’s agenda. epa’s core shareholders provide their coverage of global relevance from 8 European countries in addition to Latin America. The service is managed via regional editorial desks in Tokyo, Bangkok, Cairo, Frankfurt (headquarters), Madrid and Washington, D.C.
Founded in 1985, epa provides a daily news photo feed of 2,200 images, covering news events all over the world. epa’s international photo service is used by global media clients thanks to epa’s broad network of visual journalists and the daily production of its partners and member agencies, which are all market leaders in their respective countries.
ABOUT PM: Permission Machine is a company dedicated to ensuring photographers get compensated fairly for their work. It does so by detecting and settling copyright infringements, using a combination of state-of-the-art image recognition technology, expert quality control, and years of legal expertise.
Permission Machine was founded in 2013 by Ywein Van den Brande, a Belgian computer scientist and lawyer specialized in IT law and intellectual property. Since then, the company has expanded to include additional branches in London, Paris and Los Angeles.
https://www.epa.eu/
https://permissionmachine.com/
Sales and Press inquiries should be directed to sales@epa.eu