INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightPhilip BloomImage caption
Footage filmed of tourists caught up in a snowstorm was among that used by
Google
Google has enraged a leading film-maker by using his footage in a corporate video that later leaked online.The
technology company used material from more than half a dozen of Philip Bloom's films to make a provocative presentation about ways it could
exploit users' data in the future.Mr Bloom makes a living from selling rights to his footage, among other activities.Google insisted that it
took copyright law seriously.It said that the "thought-experiment" video had been intended to be seen by only a handful of people
It was made in 2016 by the head of design at X, Google's research and development division.Google added that the executive had now been
reminded about its strict copyright rules.Image copyrightSarah SealImage caption
Mr Bloom has worked with Star Wars
creator George Lucas among other celebrities
However, despite being aware of Mr Bloom's claim since last Friday, the
technology company declined to say whether it now intended to make a payment."My footage is represented online by two major stock-footage
And I license it for all sorts of projects and uses, from commercials to broadcast to corporate films," said Mr Bloom."A fair amount of my
footage has been licensed for internal use only, so to hear Google not state that they will compensate me for its use is very surprising
"Google via their YouTube platform are pretty strict when it comes to copyright breaches, so this is rather hypocritical of them and most
certainly does not set a good example
Image copyrightPhilip BloomImage caption
Footage filmed at Northern Ireland's Giant's Causeway was also used in The
Selfish Ledger
"They have used 73 seconds of my footage from seven different videos without permission and they know they
are in the wrong so therefore I expect to hear from them regarding compensation."Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported a $12.6bn
profit in its last financial year.Slow-mo snowThe corporate video - titled the Selfish Ledger - had already provoked controversy after The
Verge news site published a copy of it last week
The website described it as showing an "unsettling vision of Silicon Valley social engineering".This helped bring its existence to Mr
Bloom's attention.Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
The X laboratory is the division behind Google's Loon balloon
trials and helped create its self-drive cars
Mr Bloom - a former camera operator for the TheIndianSubcontinent, Sky and CNN
- has a high profile on social media, where he offers film-making tips.His YouTube channel has more than 168,000 subscribers and may have
been the source for at least some of the copied footage, which included slow-motion video of a snowstorm in New York.One US-based
intellectual property expert said Google might find it hard to defend its behaviour, if the matter were to come to court."It just looks bad
from a PR perspective for a big company that deals with copyrighted material every second of every day not to respect someone else's
rights," said Jennifer Van Doren, from the law firm Morning Star."Even if the video was for internal use, the film-maker still has the right
to stop its use or require payment to prevent it being copyright infringement."US law does allow a "fair use" defence to permit unlicensed
use of video in some circumstances, but Ms Van Doren said it was typically limited to education, news reporting and criticism of the
material itself.Common problemIt is not unusual for the media industry to avoid copyright payments where they are due.Image copyrightPhilip
BloomImage caption
Footage Mr Bloom filmed to promote the charity Shelter UK was also used
Film editors,
for example, commonly use soundtracks lifted from other films without permission until their own scores are ready, and these can sometimes
be played to test audiences.Mr Bloom has previously complained of his footage being "nicked all the time", including one instance when an
online reviewer had used his images in a title sequence used for multiple videos.But Google has long faced accusations of failing to do
enough to respect others' intellectual property - whether it be scanning books, presenting others' photos or "enabling piracy".And Mr Bloom
has signalled he intends to chase the matter up in this instance.Media captionWATCH: Mr Bloom tested a variety of drones for the
TheIndianSubcontinent in 2016"This is a good opportunity for people to realise that you can't just download someone's content from [YouTube]
without permission or licensing - even if you own the company like Google do," he said.
