Stonehenge, Image (c) English Heritage, All Rights Reserved - or Public Domain?

Submitted by Ann on Thu, 10/21/2010 - 14:28

It is a though year for Britain, with many of its public bodies facing cuts - or the axe. English Heritage, responsible for about 400 historical sites in England, survived the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) cuts quangos, despite early reports it was to be merged with the Heritage Lottery Fund. English Heritage's plans for the – badly needed – construction of a new visitor centre at Stonehenge, however, were slashed by the LibDem coalition.

It seems the government body has now realised it was not making the most (money) out of one of it's most valuable assets – its guardianship over Stonehenge. The organisation has started sending letters out to a bunch of photo-sharing and stock photo sites claiming that all images of Stonehenge "can not be used for any commercial interest" and that "all commercial interest to sell images must be directed to English Heritage."

If you ask me, as they fail to mention these 'rules' regarding commercial use of images at the Stonehenge entrance (as well as on their website), English Heritage shouldn't be complaining.

What is your opinion? Does English Heritage have the legal right to force the stock image sites to take down all photographs featuring Stonehenge? Is there a difference between the images taken when standing on English Heritage managed soil, or from the public road? If there is indeed a legal right, should English Heritage enforce this – Stonehenge is owned by the Crown, officially recognized as world heritage, and after more than 4,000 years, common sense would be to consider the monument to be 'in the public domain'? And do illustrations, paintings and digital recreations – be it of Stonehenge 1500 BC, or Stonehenge 2010 AD – fall under the 'all images of Stonehenge' English Heritage holds (or claims to hold) the commercial rights to? Take a quick vote, or let us know in the comments.

Intellectual property, Public Domain or smth else?

Titled 'Stonewalling Stonehenge', stock photo website fotoLibra published part of the communication on their blog, and responded by questioning the legitimacy of English Heritage's idea:

“If we really are breaking the law by selling images of Stonehenge to be used for any commercial interest, then of course we will cease and desist immediately. However nothing in the National Heritage Acts (1983, 2002) which brought English Heritage into existence refers to their right to prevent the sale of images of any of their properties. In any case it must be legal to display them for sale if we intend to sell them for non-commercial (i.e. editorial) rights-managed usage.”

The National Heritage Act 2002, 33(B) does state that “the Commission may exploit any intellectual property, or any other intangible asset, relating to ancient monuments or historic buildings”. Yet, although much about Stonehenge remains a mystery, but most experts agree that its design as well as its construction predate English Heritage (for which the oldest evidence found so far is dated to about 30 BP) by at least a few years, suggesting the organisation holds no intellectual property rights where Stonehenge is concerned.

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English Heritage's on Commercial Photography at Stonehenge

On techdirt.com, an email from English Heritage regarding Stonehenge was posted in the comments.

Ms R L McKellar
English Heritage
Customer Services
Po Box 569
SWINDON
SN2 2YP

Document Precis:

Dear Mr Xxxxxx,

Reference: xxxxxxxxx

Thank you for your email regarding photography at Stonehenge.

English Heritage looks after Stonehenge on behalf of the nation. But we do not control the copyright of all images of Stonehenge. And we have never tried to do so. We have no problem with photographers sharing images of Stonehenge on Flickr and similar not-for-profit image websites. We encourage visitors to the monument to take their own photographs.

If a commercial photographer enters the land within our care with the intention of taking a photograph of the monument for financial gain, we ask that they pay a fee and abide by certain conditions. English Heritage is a non-profit making organisation and this fee helps preserve and protect Stonehenge for the benefit of future generations. The majority of commercial photographers respect this position and normally request permission in advance of visiting.

I am sorry for any confusion caused by a recent email sent to a picture library.

Yours sincerely

Rae Mckellar
Correspondence Team Manager

At least tell is your rules, so we can play by them?

Regardless if English Heritage is in the right or wrong here, if this is their policy, they should communicate this more clearly. I attended the Summer Solstice at Stonehenge – a public event – twice, and nobody cared to inform me that I would have no commercial rights over my images (conditions of entry at the site entrance and full conditions of entry).

As far as I remember, there is no information on commercial photography when entering Stonehenge, or on the entrance tickets (anybody care to double-check that?). When we walked in with quite a bit of (semi) professional gear (video camera, tripod, DSLRs, microphone, ...) nobody 'asked' or told us anything.

The English Heritage website's Terms and Conditions on user-submitted content' (mainly there photography contests) states "You agree however to abide by English Heritage’s rules in relation to commercial photography at English Heritage sites, namely that photographs taken at English Heritage sites may not be exploited in any commercial context without the prior written consent of English Heritage. Please note too that photography at non-English Heritage sites may be subject to similar or different restrictions."

However, no page listing the 'rules in relation to commercial photography at English Heritage sites' can be found (google search). The closest hit is a .pdf application form for group 'stone circle access'.

(For those curious, here's our estimate of the yearly revenue from the prehistoric stone circle, I'm afraid we forgot to include 'licensing of images for commercial use')

What is your opinion? All Your Stonehenge Are Belong To Us... or To English Heritage? Take a quick vote, or let us know in the comments.

Read 4 comments, or leave your own

About The Author

Ann Wuyts (follow me: e-mail or

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Last three pieces by this author:

Unique Iron Age Hoard goes on display at Ipswich Museum | Royal Artefacts - Including King Tut's Golden Trumpet - Returned to Egyptian Museum Cairo | SCA releases full list of treasures missing from the Cairo Museum

Ann 'Vint' Wuyts (on Google+) is looking after the Heritage Key community and avatar health & entertainment. She is slightly fascinated by everything to do with 3D technology and what's commonly defined as 'Web 2.0'. When she grows up, Ann - eventually - wants to be a mummy. Favourite game: Buzzword…

Comments

Keith Kellett:

EH should remember they are the custodians of Stonehenge, not its owners.

Thu, 21-10-2010 20:13

Wayne Taylor:

EH should be greatful that photographers want to take photos of Stonehenge and publicise the area so that it attracts more tourists. Before long they will be billing Facebook users because they've taken a photo and shown it to all their friends on their page.

Thu, 21-10-2010 20:33

Morrigan:

I have quite a few photos of Stonehenge taken whilst on private tours within the stones. This attitude makes me want to try and sell them just to annoy them.

Fri, 22-10-2010 17:04

Ann:

Morrigan, an - even better - suggestion. I've put mine up on Flickr under a Creative Commons Attribution. Which basically means whomever may use them for whatever they want, as long as they credit me as photographer. (Then you don't need to go through the trouble of trying to sell them. Else, try iStock? ;))

Fri, 22-10-2010 18:05

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