Coipyright in the Hollywood Sign

I'm hoping that US colleagues on the list may be able to help with advice on a recent request to pay licensing fees for use of a photograph of the Hollywood sign.  

My university is a distance teaching university in the UK and we host an open web site on which we place educational and general interest content for access by members of the public. One of the activities featured on the site contains a photograph of the Hollywood sign, taken by one of our own staff.

We've received a request to pay licensing fees for use of the photograph from the Hollywood Chamber of Commerc, claiming that the sign itself is protected by copyright.  

Is this the case, and does US legislation permit licensing of this kind? Under UK copyright law works of art displayed openly in public places may be photographed freely and a similar photograph in the UK could be used without licence.  

Many thanks  

Richard McCracken

Head of Intellectual Property

The Open University Received on Wed Jun 15 2005 - 19:05:40 GMT