«Copyright»
Thierry’s chronicle
It is moving away every day more this time of yesteryear when the obligations were done naturally without all the complications and the uselessness of today. There is no question of boring you with embittered nostalgia and these traditional words: “it was so much better before” or “in my time!”. Far be it for me to go back to the past because it is in the nature of all things that they are constantly evolving whether or not it suits both the generation of the older people or the generations of tomorrow. No, I just want to make observations on a situation that is becoming more and more worrying every day about what is the value of human thought, of intellectual creation, in short, the works of the mind.
Certainly, we are far from the years when I found, in my mailbox, money orders from newspapers, book publishers, music publishers or any other producer of communications. These small cardboard sheets which had been sent spontaneously and which allowed a direct withdrawal to the post office of the sums paid for the copyrights, the rights of use, the reproduction rights of my photographs which circulated in international exhibitions or in graphic workshops publishers. Even professionals, located in communist and / or collectivist countries, made themselves a point of to settle their due (even if this last was sometimes tiny) to the authors of musical, literary or graphic works. I must add that in the greatest number of cases the creator also received proof of the use that had been made with his work. I grant you that there must have been, from time to time, some less scrupulous characters who forgot to send the postal order and / or the proof.
What is it now? Even if he is not plundered or plunderer, each of us cant ignore the greatest attributive confusion in which all the works imagined, designed and produced by an inventor are placed. All the world, (globalisation requires) feels obliged, as if to exist, to copy, to duplicate, to plagiarise, to degrade, to display, to diffuse, to rape, to destroy and even to appropriate the work of others . Of course I will not even mention the slightest financial side because, today, everything belongs to everyone. Which in passing allows some wily ones to earn for themselves a lot of money not by making their brain works but simply by allowing for the largest possible number an indecent usurpation of creative property.
These are the two realities of the creative situation over half a century apart, with the consequence of a deadly deterioration of artistic life.
Do you find it correct that a creator, an inventor or a artist can no longer live (even with a minimum of decency) of his creations, his inventions and his artworks?
Do you find it acceptable that these peoples (researchers, inventors and creators who represent, all fields combined, the great effervescence of human evolution) must beg to live. They must work thru incredible mazes to claim some subsidies (direct or concealed), with public or half-public organisations to obtain an advance (refundable or not) for a work already carried out.
What a great idea the cultural exception … sorry … the cultural illusion!
As you have understood, with very few exceptions, there are no more ways to survive creating and for what should ensure the spiritual evolution of Humanity.
Finally, until now, the author had an irreducible and inalienable right over his works: the moral right of the author. It should be noted that this right is even imprescriptible insofar as it can last beyond the rights granted to heirs.
Well, believe it, icing on the cake, we have just seen the arrival, in the field of photography, of a unifier-destroyer of all conceptions and all achievements using a photographic tool. This is one of these very young companies (start-up) which has just been brought to the baptismal funds by a group of financiers (bankers, life insurance companies and other pension funds), with as gift a small down payment of almost $ 300 million. This little relative of Uber has the declared intention to appropriate all the users of cameras all over the world, and it hopes to obtain a photographic monopoly. You buy a muscular camera with a lot of “artificial intelligence” and you become the photographer of the century with Meero which will take care of everything for you. This ubiquitous and sprawling company will find you the client, tell you what photo to do, it will edit and post-produce (one more time with a unique artificial intelligence tool), it will deliver and sell the photograph , it will take care of collecting the money, it will keep your accounts for you. Keep cool and do not worry about anything because Meero will do everything for you. You have become a happy and salaried photographer in this magnificent future enterprise. Only small detail in this wonderful construction is that the employee will only receives a low lump sum, he will loose the rights over his work and above all he will only work if the nice dispatchers of Meero are willing to assign him.
Geniuses and strong personalities must abstain!
You will find me old-fashioned and a bit of a dork; but, as we said at the time: “what’s wrong with this picture ?”. What fantastic program!
June 06, 2020
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