Picture Archive Council of America (PACA)

[Matthew Chan]

In reading through the many exhibits provided by Oscar Michelen to IN SUPPORT OF DEFENDANTS MOTION TO DISMISS COMPLAINT in the Masterfile vs. Chaga International case, Oscar makes several references to Attorney Nancy E. Wolff and her role as legal counsel to Picture Archive Council of America (PACA).

PACA (Picture Archive Council of America) is a trade organization representing the interests of stock archives ranging from small, individual photographers to large corporations such as Getty Images and Corbis. There are supposedly 100 North American companies and 50 International companies within the membership. Surprisingly, I found the website informative and worth visiting.

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

Look up your favorite stock photo company and chances are they are listed here. Most of our favorite players such as Getty Images, Corbis, Masterfile, PicScout, etc. are there. However, I did notice that Hawaiian Art Network wasn't listed.

http://www.pacaoffice.org/ic/paca/devpages/mem_dir_redesign.html

The annual membership fee is fairly steep for North American memberships.

http://www.pacaoffice.org/pdfs/PACA_General_Member_app.pdf

PACA provides an ongoing monthly newsletter which appears to report the ongoings of the stock photo industry. Nancy E. Wolff provides legal updates in each issues. I have scanned a few issues and it is worth reading.

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

PACA has an informative and educational section in their Document Library. I especially like the Copyright Education Powerpoint presentation and Video. The Copyright Commandments & Special Release List is worth reading. Keep in mind, it skews towards the stock photo agencies and photographers but there is some good information there.

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

I absolutely recommend everyone read the PACA 2011 Piracy Survey Results. Starting on Page 10 is where ELI readers will want to pay close attention. The results of this report alone would justify its own discussion thread.

http://www.pacaoffice.org/pdfs/Piracy_Survey_Results_2011.pdf

I think PACA will soon become a must-read for many regular ELI readers as this puts another perspective on the industry that engages in extortion letter schemes.