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Fairfax plays down photo archive claims but admits some may have been sold on eBay

Fairfax_Media_logoFairfax Media has fired back at what it claims is “misinformation and uninformed speculation” in the media regarding its attempts to retrieve its photo archives from a US company that had been charged with digitising them.

Earlier this year Fairfax was forced to file a lawsuit in Little Rock, Arkansas, in an attempt to recover millions of images, dating back as far as the 19th Century, from Rogers Photo Archive (RPA), a US company it tasked with digitising its archive two years ago which has been placed in receivership.

In an opinion piece today, by Chris Berry director of information services at Fairfax Media the company addressed ABC reports that original photographs had been sold on eBay before the digitising had been completed conceding: “Fairfax is aware that a small number of images may have been inappropriately dealt with and we are working with the receiver to recover these.”

But the publisher also took aim at wider media reporting on the photo archive litigation insisting that they were working with the receivers and that the millions of photos were not at risk.

“The New Zealand and Sydney print collections remain in the US, where they have been safely and securely stored. The material remains rightfully owned assets of Fairfax Media,” writes Berry.

“The collections were inspected by Fairfax Media at the time the receiver was appointed, and they were found to be well housed in secure and climate-controlled storage.

“Some reports have suggested these collections are in limbo. However, Fairfax Media has taken steps to assert its ownership of this material and has been examining the prospects of completing the digitisation work. Through negotiations with the receiver, the digitisation work on these collections has been found to be well advanced.”

Fairfax Media said it has already received about 600,000 scanned photos of the Sydney collection and noted reports that it had sent its Sydney collection of 10 million photo negatives to the US were incorrect.

It also confirmed previous reports in regards to the Age’s library of photos and negatives that: “Only the negatives (of which there are about two million) were sent to the US for digitisation. These were returned safely in March this year. About 90 per cent of these have been scanned by Rogers. Fairfax is negotiating to obtain the scans as part of a settlement agreement with the US receiver.”

In publishing the piece on the legal case senior executives with the publisher took aim at rival media over their coverage.

Editor-in-chief of the Sydney Morning Herald Darren Goodsir tweeted: Screen Shot 2015-06-12 at 11.00.09 am

The publisher has also sought to reassure people that was confident it would get back all its property.

“Fairfax is doing everything necessary to ensure the continued safety and ownership of its valuable photo archive,” wrote Berry. “It is confident of soon reaching an agreement with the court-appointed receiver of Rogers to have the remaining digitisation work completed so its photographic collection can become searchable and accessible – and most importantly – preserved for the future.”

Nic Christensen 

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