To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the recent action against the artist Luc Tuymans, what is the current law in the United Kingdom regarding the copying or reproduction by fine artists of work by other artists, including fine artists and photographers and other image-makers through media such as drawing, painting or the use of collage.
Answered on
9 February 2015
Current UK copyright law is found in the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 (as amended). It protects the rights of creators, including fine artists and photographers, enabling them to stop people copying either the whole or any substantial part of their work, either directly or indirectly, without the permission of the artist or photographer. This may include, among other things, the reproduction of a photograph in a painting.
However, UK law, in line with the European copyright framework, also provides a number of exceptions to copyright, where, in limited circumstances, some copying may be permitted without requiring permission and without infringing copyright. For example, one UK exception to copyright permits 'fair dealing' with a work for the purposes of caricature, parody or pastiche. European law is clear that the application of that exception in any particular case must strike a fair balance between the interests and rights of rights holder on the one hand and the freedom of expression of the user on the other, taking all the circumstances into account.
In the recent case against the artist Luc Tuymans, the Belgian court ruled that it was not satisfied that the reproduction in that particular case satisfied the criteria for ‘parody.’ Parody is an autonomous concept in European copyright law.