CREATe Public Lecture Series: Autumn 2023 Lecture 3
Getty Images: copyright hawk or corporate copyleftist?

Time and date: 5.30pm – 7pm UK time, Monday 20th November 2023, IN-PERSON ONLY
Location:  Lecture Theatre G59, Kelvin Hall, University of Glasgow, 1445 Argyle Street, Glasgow, G3 8AW
Speaker: Richard Misek, University of Bergen, Norway.
Chair: Bart Meletti, CREATe, University of Glasgow.

The talk will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience, as well as a drinks reception.

Abstract: Getty Images is the largest commercial image archive in the world. It is also perhaps the most controversial. Many of the controversies surrounding it have hinged on copyright – especially the perceived aggression with which it has asserted its own intellectual property, as well as the perceived liberties that it has taken with other people’s intellectual property and moral rights. This lecture will build on his recent film ‘A History Of The World According To Getty Images’, which highlighted the ways in which Getty Images and many other archives monetise and actively restrict access to many thousands of public domain images. Drawing from my subsequent research on Getty Images, the lecture will look both wider and deeper into the hegemonic role of Getty Images within the image economy. It will explore a range of themes including: the company’s seemingly contradictory approach to copyright, as both a rentier and an appropriator; its current legal case against Stability AI; and the way it uses contracts to manage its own (and others’) intellectual property. By doing so, the lecture will aim to take initial steps in exploring Getty Images’ overall corporate psychology.


Biography: Richard Misek is a film-maker and scholar, whose work on the digital commons combines media production, audiovisual research, and activism. His films, the latest of which is A History Of The World According To Getty Images (2022), have screened at festivals including Sundance, Locarno, Hot Docs, and IDFA. He has led grant-funded research projects on public space in the metaverse (Unifob, 2022-23), digital access to arts and culture (AHRC, 2021-22), immersive nonfiction (AHRC, 2017-18), and the video essay (AHRC, 2015-16). He is a Professor in Screen Media at the University of Bergen in Norway.