Political group must pay to use photographs of Parliament

Date: 17/04/03

By David Cronin

THE European Parliament's biggest political group has been told it cannot publish images of the assembly's Brussels headquarters while it was under construction unless it pays royalties to the architect.

Sources in the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) say they wished to use photographs of the Espace Leopold complex being built during the 1990s in a promotional video on EU enlargement. But they say they have been refused permission to include the material without paying fees to Michel Boucquillon, the architect behind the building.

Boucquillon said that, like most architects who have recently worked in Belgium, he is represented by the SOFAM company. It is authorised by the Belgian government to collect royalties on behalf of visual artists. "This is a pure and simple application of the law," he said. "If I designed something for IBM and they then wished to use an image of this in their promotions, they would have to respect my copyright."

In early 2002 SOFAM told this newspaper it would have to pay royalties to Boucquillon. The firm's letter came after a photograph of the Espace Leopold reflected in another building was used in a magazine published by European Voice. The newspaper is still contesting SOFAM's claim.

A SOFAM spokeswoman said that the EPP would be required to pay €3 for each second that it displayed the building in its video, provided that total exposure amounted to less than ten minutes.

But, the price would increase if it wished to keep the video in circulation for a lengthy period of time. For example, if it used the video for a month, the fee would rise by 20; for six months it would rise by 40 and for one year, it would rise by 50.

THE European People's Party has been told it cannot publish images of the assembly's Brussels headquarters while it was under construction unless it pays royalties to the architect.