Books about copyright tend to be out of date before they are published. Where possible, always buy the latest edition because it will include all the latest updates.
Christina Michalos Thompson/Sweet and Maxwell
Expensive but absolutely the best book available, well written and not overwhelmed with legalese.
Sixth edition Michael Flint, Nick Fitzpatrick and Clive Thorne Tottel publishing
Easy to use and everything is there.
Association of Photographers
Essential reading and full of information not available elsewhere.
Nancy E Wolff, co published with PACA, Picture Archive Council of America
Easy to digest and essential reading for anyone dealing with the US.
www.electriclane.co.uk — Sarah Saunders.
Everything you need to know about everything.
www.creativecommons.org.uk — a twitter feed.
Because it’s useful to see what other people think.
www.ipo.gov.uk — The Intellectual Property Office.
Because if they don’t know, nobody does.
www.own-it.org — Intellectual Property Advice for creative businesses.
Because it’s fascinating, useful and free.
Because it manages to say everything simply and well.
www.sirimo.co.uk — UK Photographers Rights Guide v2
Because it’s a free download and very easily understood.
www.epuk.org — Editorial Photographers United Kingdom & Ireland
Because this e-mail group of professional, editorial photographers asks a lot of questions and provides a lot of answers about everything that matters where photographic rights are concerned.
Occasionally a document will go into great detail about some subject, will fill it full of abbreviations and acronyms but will fail to explain what they mean. A lot of the time it may not matter but it may be helpful to know anyway.
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
Association of Photographers association for professional photographers which aims to protect their rights and to promote photography
Association for Information Management
British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies the only UK association for picture libraries and agencies
British Copyright Council
Bureau of Freelance Photographers association for all freelance and aspiring photographers interested in marketing photographic material
British Institute of Professional Photography association for professional photographers, most of whom run a business, providing support for members plus qualifications
British Photographers’ Liaison Committee a committee of representatives from other photographic associations. This committee closed in 2008.
Compact Disk
Copyright,Designs and Patents Act 1988
Coordination of European Picture Agencies represent the interests of picture associations, agencies and libraries in Europe
Copyright Licensing Agency supply licenses to organisations to photocopy and scan from publications
Cyan/magenta/yellow/black
Central Office of Information public relations company with one client - the government
Design and Artists Copyright Society UK copyright and collecting society for artists and visual creators including photographers.
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform used to be the DTI
Data Protection Act 1998
dots per inch
Department of Trade and Industry but see DBERR
Digital Versatile Disk originally Digital Video Disk but they became more versatile
European Commission
European Court of Justice
European Court of Human Rights
European Economic Area
European Patent Office
European Union
Freedom of Information Act 2005 the public right to know - occasionally FOIA
File Transfer Protocol
Her Majesty’s Stationery Office
Human Rights Act
Hyper Text Markup Language
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol
Health and Safety Executive hard hats, safety shoes, tripods in public places, seat belts, fluorescent jackets, enclosed scaffolding, removal of hanging baskets... as a rule, schools and councils blame HSE when it is in fact their insurers who refuse to cover events for fear of litigation.
Information and Communication Technology
Intellectual Property
International Press Telecommunications Council consortium of major news agencies, publishers and news industry vendors.
International Standard Book Number
Integrated Services Digital Network
Internet Service Provider
International Standard Serial Number an arbitrary numbering system for magazines and serial publications
Joint Photographic Experts Group
Library Association association for librarians and information managers
Master Photographers’ Association association for professional and qualified wedding photographers
Office of Fair Trading
Office for Harmonisation of the Internal Market agency responsible for administering EU intellectual property
Office of Public Sector Information department which manages and regulates government information
Picture Archive Council of America the association which sorts everything in the US
Press Complaints Commission independent commission which monitors UK newspapers and magazines to ensure they adhere to ethical guidelines
Portable Document Format
This means post mortem actoris which translates as ‘after the death of the author’ When a regulation says seventy years pma, it actually means seventy years after the end of the year in which the author dies.
Royalty Free but not copyright free
Red/Green/Blue
Rights Managed
Royal Photographic Society.
Short Message Service in other words, text messaging
Tagged Image Format File
United Kingdom Intellectual Property Office used to be the Patent Office and has nothing to do with the political party with a similar acronym
World Intellectual Property Organisation blanket organisation which covers the world and not just the UK
World Wide Web