Photographer and South Africa Chronicler Jürgen Schadeberg has Copyright Violation by South African Picture Agency Legally Prohibited

BERLIN - On 26 August 2009 the Regional Court of Berlin issued a restrictive injunction (file number: 15 O 350/09) against the South African picture agency Africa Media Online (AMO). Applicant is the South Africa chronicler Jürgen Schadeberg. More than 200 photos of the internationally recognized photographer from the years 1952 to 1959 which have not been published so far are concerned. In 1964 the photographer needed to leave the negatives behind in South Africa, since he was observed by the Apartheid’s secret police. At that time he could only leave the country with hand baggage. Born in Berlin, he migrated to South Africa in 1951. In its announcement of 22 July 2009, the TV channel ARTE wrote about him as follows: “Jürgen Schadeberg is one of the most important photographers of our time”.

The commercial picture agency AMO published the photographs on the Internet in July 2009, without having obtained the copyrights of the photographer. Nobody knows how the agency came into the possession of the photographs. According to the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, AMO was established with subsidies of the European Union. In a press release of AMO, its managing director Larsen explained, with a view to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa: “Everyone will need pictures, and we are prepared.”

Mr. Schadeberg comments the violation of his copyrights as follows: “The particularly serious matter is the fact that I was unable to influence the first publication. I would have selected the photographs which have been withheld for decades according to my own criteria and I would have published them in an exhibition or an illustrated book first. Since I am still not in the possession of the negatives, it is not possible for me to do so at present. I hope to be able to look through the negatives before the FIFA World Cup and to have the possibility to present them to the public on my own.”

“The right of first publication enjoys special legal protection by the copyright law”, according to his lawyer, Michael Plüschke, having his law office in Berlin, “because it is an essential part of the author’s personal rights and cannot be transferred to third parties. Unlike the ban on the Internet utilization placed by the Regional Court of Berlin, the action for recovery of the negatives can only be brought before South African courts.”

Links:

Court of Berlin: www.markenrecht.eu/download/lg_berlin_15.O.350_09.pdf

Larsen: www.bizcommunity.com/PressOffice/PressRelease.aspx?i=120439&ai=28804

ARTE: www.arte.tv/de/woche/244,broadcastingNum=997106,day=5,week=30,year=2009.html

(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and paste this hyperlink into your Internet browser’s URL address field. Remove the space if one exists.)

Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa_Media_Online

www.jurgenschadeberg.com

www.markenrecht.eu

Press contacts: Jürgen Schadeberg E-mail: schadeberg@orange.fr RA Michael Plüschke E-mail: kanzlei@markenrecht.eu Telephone: +49(0)30-20253175

Source: Kanzlei markenrecht.EU

Press contacts: Jürgen Schadeberg, E-mail: schadeberg at orange.fr; RA Michael Plüschke, E-mail: kanzlei at markenrecht.eu, Telephone: +49(0)30-20253175