National newspaper, the Daily Mirror, breached copyright by offering consumers back issues of its stories, the High Court has ruled.
Legal proceedings were launched against the tabloid publishers by freelance photographer, Alan Grisbrook. After 16 years with the paper, Mr Grisbrook retained copyright privileges on his back catalogue of photos upon leaving the company.
He maintained that publishers breached these privileges after unsolicited, commercial gain from his work through photo archives. In 2002, Mr Grisbrook apparently agreed with the Mirror News Group (MGN) that they would not continue to use his work, but online databases arcitext.com and mirrorarchive.co.uk offered consumers the chance to purchase back issues after handing over a fee.
Mr Grisbrook claimed he had no problem with his work being used in either "hard copy or electronic form", but he did object to the sale of digital replicas. The High Court has sided with the celebrity photographer this week, ruling that the "commercial use of the database" was a breach of copyright.
No contract was signed between the two parties detailing the extent to which the Daily Mirror could re-sell Mr Grisbrook’s work, but judges ruled that conditions were implied in the pairs’ oral agreement.
"The exploitation through back number websites seems to me to be a different kind of operation which was not contemplated at the time the license was granted," said Lord Justice Patten.
"For these reasons, I take the view that Mr Grisbrook’s copyright in his photographs has been or would be infringed by the operation of the back number websites."
