Meta must pay image makers 

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  • professional practice

Last year, Pictoright sued Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, among others, for copyright infringement. Below is an update on the status of the case. 

Pictoright asked the court to rule that Meta is an online platform that requires a license from Pictoright under copyright law to use content of professional image makers on its platforms. Pictoright also argued that Meta did not make sufficient efforts to obtain such a license and therefore must pay damages to the image makers represented by Pictoright. Meta refuted Pictoright's claims. 

Court finds Meta must be transparent

In September 2024, the hearing took place at the Amsterdam District Court. In the fall of 2024, Pictoright asked the court to rule. Before ruling, the judges gave the parties two weeks to try to work together on a solution. However, Pictoright did not receive sufficient assurance from Meta that a mutually satisfactory solution could be reached in the short term. 

On Nov. 20, the Amsterdam District Court issued an interim ruling. In the interim ruling, the court confirmed that under European and national law Meta is obliged to provide image creators with remuneration for the use of their work on Meta's platforms, the platform must make efforts to obtain a license from Pictoright. According to the court, this also means that Meta must pay appropriate remuneration to the creators represented by Pictoright from the beginning of the implementation of this law, in June 2021. 

Meta needs to answer some additional questions

How this compensation should be determined is not yet clear. The court did confirm that Pictoright does not have to go along with the method of "data discovery" developed by Meta. The court finds that Meta must be transparent and that the approach must be appropriate and verifiable by Pictoright. Meta must answer a number of additional questions, after which experts will look into it and the parties can continue talking to each other again in hopes of reaching a fair licensing agreement. 

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