The tale of the red bus: how copyright protection is reaching out to artistic concepts.
The internet is buzzing with excitement over what's being described as an "insane" copyright decision in the UK courts. Temple Island produced an image that showed an iconic red routemaster bus on Westminster Bridge with the Houses of Parliament. The image was treated so that the bus remained red and the rest became harsh black and white. A few years later New English Teas came along and produced an image that had the same elements and the same black and white treatment.Needless to say parts of the internet are furious that a photograph of such an iconic and public location could be copyrighted and prevent others from using the same. Unfortunately this somewhat misses the point.
It isn't a photograph that is being challenged, but rather the artistic process that goes into it. The Temple Island image is a photograph that has been manipulated. The New English Teas image has been assembled by bringing together different elements. It is this latter point that the Judge puts at the centre of the case. He also points to his belief that there was some aspect of the design wilfully copying the original in his design.
Those of us who "create art" should be overjoyed at this decision. The suggestion is there is protection now from those who seek to copy our artistic concepts and concepts from people who try to do "just enough" to keep their copies "original."
Far from being a "bad day" for copyright, this is an excellent judgment that should protect good quality artistic works from being ripped off.
You can read the full judgment here.
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