Snaps, Specs And Supermarkets — Recent 'Soft' IP Cases

Snaps: Temple Island Collections Ltd v New English Teas [2012] EWPCC 1

A case causing somewhat of a stir in the world of copyright law at the moment is the recent Temple Islands case about photographs of a bright red routemaster bus. The case was heard in the Patents County Court by His Honour Judge Birss QC. The Claimant's photograph was of a bright red bus with the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in black and white in the background and Westminster Bridge, and the river in black and white in the foreground. The photograph used by the Defendant on its souvenir products was also of a bright red bus on Westminster Bridge but was taken from a different angle with a smaller part of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben in black and white in the background, and the arches of the bridge and the river were not visible in the foreground. The two photographs were therefore not identical but did share a number of common elements.

Judge Birss found that the Defendant's photograph infringed the Claimant's copyright in its photograph. Some commentators have expressed surprise at the decision and its potential impact on what is known as...