losdemas Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 I know that many of you will have received an email from DACS regarding claims in Germany ("Had visual works published in Germany? Apply for royalties now.") The limitations on the information that we are able to garner from (specifically) Alamy make this difficult, but far from impossible. A useful way of adding more beans to the pot... Anyhow, the main point of this post is that I just received an email from DACS ("Great News! We have royalties for you"). Initially, I thought that this must be just an advanced missive confirming that my regular claim had been successfully processed, but no! It is to advise me that "DACS has received a back payment via the German society VG BildKunst for private copy in Germany. This is due to a recent change in German law, resulting from a court ruling." and thus "we have retrospective royalties to pay you" This, they say, relates to Payback in 2016! I'm going to email them to garner more info, as I don't know how they have ascertained that I have specific German licenses, as my Payback claims have (naturally) related to UK licenses. Has anyone else received similar emails? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martyn Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Yes ... have also received both emails ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kuta Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Woohoo! Also got both emails. I think 2016 was the last year I did the claim myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 3, 2019 Share Posted May 3, 2019 Ja, I received both e-mails. Have always filed DACS claims myself. So yes, a bit mysterious. I can always use more beans in the pot, though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Woods Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 Me too, and am curious as my DACS deals with UK publications only. We'll see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 Are we yanks being left out? It appears so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 56 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said: Are we yanks being left out? It appears so. I believe that Bill K. (see above) got the e-mails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
losdemas Posted May 4, 2019 Author Share Posted May 4, 2019 1 hour ago, Betty LaRue said: Are we yanks being left out? It appears so. 8 hours ago, Bill Kuta said: Woohoo! Also got both emails. I think 2016 was the last year I did the claim myself. 30 minutes ago, John Mitchell said: I believe that Bill K. (see above) got the e-mails. Do you do your own claims, Betty? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 (edited) Same here. There's been no analysis by country so I think this must relate to uses in the EU. Time to dust off my legal German and do some research on that court case. I have plenty in Germany but could only track down a couple for DACS. Edit: there's been a long running court case about that old royalties bugbear, publishers getting a share. There have been appeals and referrals to the CJEU but it seems finally to have been resolved in photographers' favour in the constitutional court. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verwertungsgesellschaft_Bild-Kunst and https://dejure.org/dienste/vernetzung/rechtsprechung?Text=1+BvR+1213%2F16 Why DACS gets a piece of VG Bildkunst's action I don't know. Edited May 4, 2019 by spacecadet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Walker Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I always include Worldwide use when making my claim as this must include UK. Not sure if this makes a difference but I received the email yesterday. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandyAppleRed Images Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 Also got both, so hopefully a few unexpected pennies in September. I have had a sale to Germany for a travel book but cannot find it using any of the usual Google/Tineye searches etc.I tried Alamy but they said they cannot check back as there would be too much work involved. Fair enough I suppose. Anyone any ideas on how I could chase it up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 12 minutes ago, CandyAppleRed Images said: Also got both, so hopefully a few unexpected pennies in September. I have had a sale to Germany for a travel book but cannot find it using any of the usual Google/Tineye searches etc.I tried Alamy but they said they cannot check back as there would be too much work involved. Fair enough I suppose. Anyone any ideas on how I could chase it up? Try Altas Obscura. They've used a couple of mine. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJ Myford Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I wonder if those who get their DACS via Alamy will benefit from this in any way. I've had an image sale for German TV: don't know if that would count. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 1 minute ago, DJ Myford said: I wonder if those who get their DACS via Alamy will benefit from this in any way. I've had an image sale for German TV: don't know if that would count. I can't think it will be very much, so half of not very much. IIRC there was a category for TV claims. Depends whether Alamy cares to do the work- if I'd let Alamy do it I'd be checking my contract- they may be obliged to.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYCat Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 6 hours ago, Betty LaRue said: Are we yanks being left out? It appears so. I got the email, Betty, but I don't do my own claims anymore. Paulette Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex Ramsay Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 16 hours ago, losdemas said: I know that many of you will have received an email from DACS regarding claims in Germany ("Had visual works published in Germany? Apply for royalties now.") The limitations on the information that we are able to garner from (specifically) Alamy make this difficult, but far from impossible. A useful way of adding more beans to the pot... Anyhow, the main point of this post is that I just received an email from DACS ("Great News! We have royalties for you"). Initially, I thought that this must be just an advanced missive confirming that my regular claim had been successfully processed, but no! It is to advise me that "DACS has received a back payment via the German society VG BildKunst for private copy in Germany. This is due to a recent change in German law, resulting from a court ruling." and thus "we have retrospective royalties to pay you" This, they say, relates to Payback in 2016! I'm going to email them to garner more info, as I don't know how they have ascertained that I have specific German licenses, as my Payback claims have (naturally) related to UK licenses. Has anyone else received similar emails? Yes - several of my books have been translated and published in Germany Alex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 7 hours ago, John Walker said: I always include Worldwide use when making my claim as this must include UK. Not sure if this makes a difference but I received the email yesterday. I include only UK region images when I file my claim, and I got the e-mails. P.S. "Worldwide" isn't one of the regions listed on the spreadsheet -- only UK, EU, US, and ROW (Rest of World). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betty LaRue Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 I got the email, but only one. I deleted it because the way it read (to me) was that it only applied to UK contributors. And yes, Alamy claims for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CandyAppleRed Images Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 9 hours ago, spacecadet said: Try Altas Obscura. They've used a couple of mine. Cheers, I'll give it a go! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reimar Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 4 hours ago, John Mitchell said: I include only UK region images when I file my claim, and I got the e-mails. P.S. "Worldwide" isn't one of the regions listed on the spreadsheet -- only UK, EU, US, and ROW (Rest of World). That's true John. However, I take it that "Region" refers to the point of origin for the sale, not intended use. So I look to the License Detail column to see Country: Worldwide for the actual usage. So I think the other John is OK. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 4, 2019 Share Posted May 4, 2019 1 hour ago, Reimar said: That's true John. However, I take it that "Region" refers to the point of origin for the sale, not intended use. So I look to the License Detail column to see Country: Worldwide for the actual usage. So I think the other John is OK. My claims would be at least twice as big as they are now if I included "Worldwide" images. My interpretation is that unless the region specified is UK, then it's not a UK sale as specified by DACS. I guess only DACS or Alamy can clarify this, and I don't imagine that they will. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 9 hours ago, John Mitchell said: My claims would be at least twice as big as they are now if I included "Worldwide" images. My interpretation is that unless the region specified is UK, then it's not a UK sale as specified by DACS. I guess only DACS or Alamy can clarify this, and I don't imagine that they will. I include all sales in my submission. DACS decide what qualifies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 8 hours ago, spacecadet said: I include all sales in my submission. DACS decide what qualifies. But you still have to list how many UK books and magazines that your images have been published in. How do you figure that out? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spacecadet Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 I just add the new ones year-on-year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reimar Posted May 5, 2019 Share Posted May 5, 2019 Here's a question John. If a US publisher sells a book in the UK, and people in the UK make copies of parts of the book which include your picture, are you owed any copyright royalties? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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