Cable car company wants to ban photos of Sugarloaf Mountain – 12/17/2023 – Ronaldo Lemos

Last week, I wrote here on Sheet on the importance of protecting digital public goods. We live in times of “enclosure”, in which spaces that should be public are becoming private. It is in the collective interest to protect these “commons”. Countries like India, for example, have developed important initiatives in this regard in the digital field.

What was my surprise when, on the day the article was published, I had to live an unpleasant (not to say demeaning) experience of this phenomenon in practice. ITS Rio (Institute of Technology and Society of Rio de Janeiro), of which I am part, was notified extrajudicially by the company that operates the Pão de Açúcar cable car.

The notification demanded that the institute immediately remove a photo posted in November on Instagram with an image of Pão de Açúcar. It was visible not only the cable car, but also the cove, the neighborhoods of Urca and Botafogo, the Sumaré hill and other geographical landmarks of the city.

The post was made to announce a research program that the institute carries out annually calling for foreign researchers to work in Brazil. The program is free and the post is not for commercial purposes. The photo was obtained from an image bank, which freely licenses its use. In this bank, in fact, there are countless photos of Pão de Açúcar, all licensed by their authors for free use.

Even so, the company that manages the cable car was not happy with the publication. The notice called the photo “parasitic,” “unjust enrichment,” “unfair competition” and an “ambush.” It demanded not only its immediate removal, but also that the institute sign a bizarre Term of Commitment, which prohibited us from making “any use, present or future, of images or any representations of Parque Bondinho Pão de Açúcar”.

The ITS has Rio de Janeiro in its own name. We would have to spend the rest of our lives avoiding images of Sugarloaf Mountain. To top it off, at the end, the notification said that the company was “fully available to discuss possible authorizations for the use of the image, if this was in the interest of the ITS”.

All of this not only revolts common sense, but is also completely contrary to what the Copyright Law says. The law expressly allows the use of images of public places. Its article 48 says that: “works permanently located in public places may be freely represented by photographs…”.

In the case of the cable car, there is no need to talk about copyright, as it is a means of utilitarian transport. But, even if there were, the law is clear in the protection of public places as assets of common free use (commons) for representation purposes.

The case generated a significant reaction. The city of Rio, through its attorney’s office, notified the company to stop this type of abusive demand. The public debate that followed is an opportunity for collective learning.

Notifications like this have become increasingly common. They are typical of the so-called “copyright trolls”, companies that send hundreds, sometimes thousands, of notifications, to assert rights that they often do not have. Drawing attention to this phenomenon is a way to help defend our public assets, physical and digital.

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