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Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Over 50 Agencies Joined PicScout at CEPIC 2010

CEPIC 2010, the leading congress in the Picture Industry served as a great platform to bring heightened awareness to the challenges and opportunities for images in an environment of expansive growth of technology devices and products. PicScout addressed one of the core challenges of image identification with the announcement of free credit for all images and a pay-per-click model for connection.

CEPIC 2010 also provided a rich set of speakers on key issues impacting the industry. These included: “Threats and Opportunities for Content Owners in the Online Space” by Benjamin Edelman from the Harvard Business School and “Initiative for Growth in the Online Special Environment” a panel of industry experts moderated by Frank Perrier and included PicScout VP Marketing and Business Development on a global basis, Amy Love.

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Amy Love speaks at Initiative for Growth in the Online Special Environment (CTK Photo/Rene Fluger)

The Growth in the Online Environment panel identified several paths to create new revenue streams for the agencies and Amy discussed image buyer trends which are leading towards increased and preferred search engine usage for image sourcing.  Amy also addressed a series of participant questions regarding how PicScoutImageIRC™ for use with ImageExchange™ offers new opportunities for image owners and licensors to connect when an image is found.  The discussion included describing how the PicScout technology platform for image recognition has transferred from creating the de facto standard in image protection to now including image promotion in a digital environment.

The growth panel also addressed mobile and tablets as evolving and growing markets. According to a report issued June 17 by Forrester Research, tablet computers will outsell netbooks in the United States by 2012. The highly graphical interface increases the need for images and the availability of images to creative professionals is more important than ever. PicScout offers the solution that allows image licensors and owners to make images even more readily available and licensable to creative professionals. By 2015 nearly one in four personal computers sold to U.S. consumers will be tablets and image use will dramatically increase as personal publishing will reach unprecedented levels. In this market it is important to protect company assets while making images accessible and licensable and protecting copyright in the digital age.

For agencies and photographers, the conference provided clear insight into the importance of both image protection and image promotion.  At the conference, PicScout signed more than 20 new clients and we welcome them all on board as we deliver our market promise of Every Image Gets Its Credit™.  Agencies and photographers can still take advantage of the CEPIC event  promotion to try ImageExchange – you can learn more at www.picscout.com/cepic. You can also register for the service here.

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Sunday, June 6th, 2010

Digital Image Recognition Revolutionizes Designers’ Access to Images

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PicScout makes inaugural appearance at three major design community events: HOW Design Conference, InHOWse Designer Conference and Creative Freelancer Conference Bringing Image Exchange to the Design Community.

June 5-9, PicScout will be on the ground in Denver, Colorado listening to and speaking with thousands of designers about their needs and desires for tools that help them with their image discovery and licensing needs. PicScout eagerly anticipates the opportunity to introduce ImageExchange, now in open beta, to the design community with Amy Love, VP Marketing and Business Development, set to speak at each conference.

Designers will experience ImageExchange, the quintessential design tool that lets designers design without having to spend time searching for image owners or wondering how to license images.

Those interested in learning more about ImageExchange are encouraged to come by our displays at Creative Freelance Conference, InHOWse Designer Conference and our booth (#313) at the HOW Design Conference booth. If you’re currently an ImageExchange user – please stop by as well – we love to hear about your experiences.

We also invite you to attend the special joint session with world-renowned presentation designer Nancy Duarte – Inspire with Image – New Ways to Present, Find and License Them.  Monday, 3:45-5:00 p.m. – Room 601 – HOW Conference.

Install the ImageExchange add-on today and see how fast, easy and useful the experience can be.

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Tuesday, June 1st, 2010

Uri Lavi, head of R&D at PicScout, presents at the Technion, the Israel Institute for Technology, on June 2nd. 



Image courtesy of Technion, IL

Image courtesy of Technion, IL

This week, Picscout’s head of R&D, Uri Lavi will be part of a high-profile panel at the Technion in Haifa. The computer science department at the Technion is considered one of the top academic institutions worldwide. Uri is excited to be invited by his Alma Mater to be presenting together with researchers from Google, IBM, Microsoft and Outbrain. It’s a privilege for PicScout to be invited to the Technion and to be recognized as a thought leader in the field of research for digital fingerprinting.

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Sunday, May 16th, 2010

Install ImageExchange – Win an Apple iPad

The BAPLA Picture Buyers’ Fair is bigger than ever, and PicScout is bringing ImageExchange to a needy UK audience of Picture Buyers.

Install ImageExchangeTM between now and Thursday, May 20, print out a copy of your successful install page and bring it to us at PBF, booth #32. PicScout will give away two iPads at PBF – All attendees who stop by our booth and have their badge scanned will be entered to win. Those with an ImageExchange “install success page” and have their badge scanned at the PicScout booth will have an extra chance to win by being entered into the drawing twice.

Once you install the free ImageExchange tool, you will be able to see tens of millions of every type of image, across a full range of prices-RM, RF, MS, and UGC-identified with an PicScout ImageExchange Icon icon and ready for licensing and immediate use!  …and you’re entered to win a free iPad!

Visit PicScout at BAPLA Picture Buyers’ Fair, booth #32

We will announce one winner after 4 pm each day of PBF, May 19th and May 20th. Be sure to enter timely to be eligible for the drawings.

Experience ImageExchange
Install the ImageExchange add-on today and see first hand how fast, easy and useful the PicScout ImageExchange Icon experience can be, and now is the best time to start using ImageExchange, especially if you’re attending the BAPLA Picture Buyers’ Fair!

Tags: ImageExchange, Picture Buyers’ Fair, BAPLA, iPad, PicScout, Images, Stock Images, British Association of Picture Libraries and Agencies, PBF

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Thursday, April 15th, 2010

ImageExchange Moves to Open Beta – Simplified User Experience Expands User Base

No-registration required installation and owner identified images make image search simple

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We all know the KISS principle. The general consensus is that this is good practice which one should aspire to deliver. While simplicity can’t be overrated, it can be overdone. Getting simple just right can be tricky, as even Albert Einstein cautions, “Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.” So, how far can you take simple and still achieve the desired result? We think the PicScout PicScout ImageExchange Icon icon is a model of simplicity for image buyers– one glance tells you an image can be licensed, and one click connects you to license and use. Simple actions, but with extraordinary results! …and we will continue to make simple better and better with the help of our users.

PicScout has been beta testing ImageExchange since October 2009. We’ve watched how our closed beta users install it; we’ve asked for their feedback to refine and improve the tool; and we know when, how and why it’s used. Our beta users provide the insights needed to continually improve ImageExchange to make it an even more elegant, yet simple, tool for image users of any and all types. We have learned much in our quest to provide robust simplicity, and we want to learn even more about image user engagement and gain more insight from more users to understand all that motivates them at the point of the image experience. We encourage everyone to install the free ImageExchange tool now to experience images in a new way and participate in this landmark internet movement that facilitates image use by presenting ownership with every image.

New users join current beta users in resounding enthusiasm for ImageExchange:

Moving to Open Beta of ImageExchange means we’re opening ImageExchange to a wider audience and enlarging our scope of ImageExchange use and users to sharpen our insight. Now, many new image users can experience a new simplicity and freedom in their work, the kind of satisfaction that early beta users continue to express in their feedback to PicScout. Those who install ImageExchange browser add-on will be able to see tens of millions of every type of image—RM, RF, MS, and UCG—identified with an PicScout ImageExchange Iconicon and ready for licensing and immediate use!

Help us celebrate this by sharing the good news. Invite your friends and colleagues to install the free ImageExchange. Registration for the add-on is no longer required – users can simply download the ImageExchange add-on directly for use with their FireFox browser.

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Wednesday, March 24th, 2010

PicScout – Annual Report on State of Image Infringement

Image Volumes Rise along with Cases of Infringement

copyright infringement
©3dts | Dreamstime.com

In 2009, total infringement case volume reported by PicScout clients increased more then 3 times over 2006 levels, which demonstrates the ongoing explosion of the use of digital imagery and its non-legitimate use. Current global data, which is based on over 5,000,000 RM images, demonstrates that industry-wide aggregation of infringement cases reported for 2009 show that about 8 out of 10 uses of Rights Managed images on commercial websites today are being used non-legitimately.

In a sample study conducted by Stock Artist Alliance and PicScout in 2005, and further reported in 2007 to assess the level of infringement occurring with Rights Managed Images, the issue of infringement is shown to be world-wide with the study revealing that cases found were distributed 64% in the US, 23% in Germany and 13% in the U.K. The study tracked a sample of 20,000 SAA member images represented in the Rights Managed collections of the leading stock distributors, Getty Images and Corbis, which had never been paid for web usage.

Given the vast increase in the use of images in everything digital – and the lack of user awareness of or willingness to acknowledge copyright and license responsibilities – it is consistent to assume the level of infringement for editorial and Royalty Free is equal to or exceeds that of Right Managed images. If the industry were to expand its infringement claims from commercial websites to include User Generated Content (UGC) websites, PicScout projects that the number of infringement cases would be considerably larger.

PicScout represents stock agencies that control at least eighty (80) percent of the Rights Managed revenue in the U.S., Canada, Europe and parts of Asia. PicScout reviews more than 600 million online images a month globally and compares those images against a Rights Managed critical mass database of agency represented images. In a year, PicScout will audit more than six (6) billion images.

CONCLUSION:

Technology enablers, UGC content sites, consumers/users, artists and governing authorities must jointly accept responsibility to safeguard the creative artist’s products in order to ensure supply of creative artists’ product. Copyright protection must ensure the industry the ability to protect and assert its rights.

Copyright Alliance

Comments:
http://www.copyrightalliance.org/files/copyright_alliance_march_24_2010_comments_to_usipec.pdf

Press release:
http://www.copyrightalliance.org/news.php?id=84

Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)

http://www.pacaoffice.org/advocacy.shtml

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