Fined for taking pictures at a monument

Yes my friends, from now on we'll have to be careful when choosing the background of our pictures. For example, in Brussels, there's a monument called "Atomium", built for the '58 Expo, and it sits under a copyright law. And that means that those who take a picture of it and then spread it on any kind of media (let's say, a Blog) will be fined for approximately 700€ (1000 US$) .

We have the clear example of this website. They had to remove all their pictures of "The Atomium" because the SABAM (Belgian Copyright defensors) tried to fine them for 793€ (1221 US$) due to the afore mentioned pictures. We must say that the website is a non-profit organization, the monument was built with public money and that the atom is a representation of a natural element not invented by any human author.

Where is this madness heading to? Imagine for a second that you build yourself a nice house with a peculiar shape you invented... Should anyone who takes pictures of it be paying you? If they keep doing it this way then yes, they should.



A picture of "The Atomium" - via Wikipedia

Related links: [1] [2]