Re: photos of ancient artifacts

On 07/19/2000, Edward Harvey <eharvey[_at_]sbceo.org> wrote:
>
> I am building an interactive computer presentation to be delivered
> on CD on the subject of ancient Native American artifacts of the
> Archaic Period (8000-1000BC). These questions concern the use of
> images of the artifacts. What has me confused is that these
> objects were created thousands of years ago and therefore might be
> like an historical monument, a photo of which might be copyrighted
> but not the object itself.
>
> 1) If I have received permission to photograph artifacts in the
> collection of a museum do I need to get a license agreement for
> the images used in the specific project that I am making? The
> director of collections knew that I was photographing for some
> kind of eventual publication when he granted access to the
> collection.
>
> 2) If a collector has given me permission to photograph items in
> his collection and even given me possession of the artifacts
> temporarily, do I need a license agreement to use these images
> in my project?
>
> 3) If the author of a book on these artifacts, who is also the
> photographer of the images used in his book, gives me
> permission to use these images in my project, do I have to have
> permission from the individual collectors of the objects in the
> images?

If you took the photographs with permission, you are the copyright holder in the photograph. You do not need additional permission to publish the photos. The only thing that would be an obstacle is if you promised the artifact owner not to publish the photos without additional permission. That could be a legally binding contract.

Question 3 is a little trickier. The photographer may not be the copyright holder. When he/she published the work, he/she may have assigned the copyright in the photos to the publisher. If so, you would need the publisher's permission. And you need to check to see if the photographer had any contracts with the artifact owner that restricted his/her right to publish. With those two caveats, you should be fine.

Tyler T. Ochoa
Associate Professor
Whittier Law School
<tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> Received on Thu Jul 20 2000 - 18:39:04 GMT