Freedom of Panorama Upheld

John Hill

9. July 2015

A censured view of Millau Viaduct Southern France © 2004 Foster and Partners (Photo: Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

The European Parliament has rejected the plan that would have restricted the so-called Freedom of Panorama, the right to use pictures of public buildings and sculptures without restriction.

Much of the opposition to the plan – technically amendment 421 of the Implementation of Directive 2001/29/EC – came from Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. Wikipedia, and its Wikimedia Commons, depends upon the Freedom of Panorama to present hundreds of thousands of pictures of modern European architecture and public art. His campaign against the amendment consisted of a number of bold photographs with buildings removed from them, such as Norman Foster's Millau Viaduct shown above.

Opposition also came from German politician Julia Reda, a member of the European Pirate Party who has "declared to make copyright reform her focus for the legislative term," according to, appropriately, Wikipedia. Her comments from today's vote can be heard in the video below.

Even with today's ruling, certain countries (Belgium, France, Greece, Italy, and Luxembourg) don't have Freedome of Panorama, such that photographs of Belgium's Atomium, symbol of the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, can not be found on sites like Wikipedia.