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What does metadata have to do with IPR?
The metadata attached to a digital image may include information about the artist, date of creation, copyright holder and/ or license holder. Many images cannot be made publicly available on the Internet without the presence of this information (metadata). If this metadata does not appear with the image, the image user may be liable for copyright infringement.

What is the problem?
" Copyright or Intellectual Property law is not standardised across Europe so image holders and image users face a variety of rules depending on where they are situated.
" There are often many layers of copyright within an image, all of whose rights need to be considered. This may include the photographer, the creator of the original work, the location which holds the original work and/ or other rights holders. Determining all the rights holders within an image requires an understanding of the source of the image, the content portrayed and the creation of the image. Much of the time, all of the information is difficult to locate.
" Image libraries are torn between their duties to protect the rights holders of the images they hold whilst trying to promote these images as widely as possible to maximise the sale of these images so that the rights holders may earn an income from their images.
" In some cases, copyright information about the rights holder(s) of an image is not known. These images are referred to as 'orphan works'. The number of these works in the EU has not yet been quantified but The Bridgeman Art Library alone receives requests for at least 300 'orphan works' per year so the potential income loss is substantial.
" Protecting digital images from illegal reuse is another crucial consideration for any online image archive. Piracy protection may include technological solutions which are often expensive but these solutions are often varied and fragmented and many offenders are not even aware that they are doing anything wrong.

The MILE project is working towards 4 key objectives regarding IPR:

1. Investigate and document the IPR problems and issues facing digital image users and providers throughout the European Union and raise awareness of these problems / issues.
2. Discuss and evaluate potential solutions to the above problems within our project network of skilled experts.
3. Provide best practice recommendations both to image users and image providers, and offer recommendations on future IPR legislation to the EC Parliament in the hope of achieving a degree of harmonisation throughout the EU.
4. Produce an 'Orphan Works' database which will enable image holders to post their own 'orphan works' and the public to post information related to the images in the hope of attaining copyright information about these works, as well as acting as a due diligence exercise case study.

How will MILE help?
As a result of the discussions and seminars which will focus on the 4 objectives above, MILE will produce a guide to licensing processes, best practices and standards in IPR metadata for digital images. MILE will work with partner trade associations to promote and disseminate this guide as widely as possible. This will serve to raise awareness and elucidate IPR procedures for all European citizens so that they may use and exploit European culture through digital images, more readily, more safely and with more understanding.