Re: Fair Use Question?

> My question to Kathy and others is how does making a reproduction from
> an image of a work obviously in the public domain, from a plate in a
> book published before 1918, differ from making one of the same artwork
> in a book published yesterday (especially if the image appearing in both
> is similar)? After the reproduction is made, what's the difference?
> It's still a reproduction of a work in the public domain. What has
> today's photographer contributed that warrants the protection of a
> copyright?
>
> Also, how does one determine who holds the first copyright to the image
> when the artist as creator died long before copyright questions existed
> and even in the early days of copyright, reproduction of artworks was a
> common practice and the image creator's name seldom noted?
>
> Christine Sundt
> csundt[_at_]oregon.uoregon.edu

I agree absolutely with Chris Sundt's take on this aspect of copyright. Some photographers make a distinction between their making a photograph of flat artwork, like painting, photographic work which they call copy photography. They do not own the copyright because they haven't contributed enough creative work to the finished product, and their copyright would be presumptive over the copyright of the original creator. But in the case of sculpture, the photographer supposedly brings more creative input into the finished photograph, so the photographer has the copyright to that particular image of the sculpture. This is why we see photographer's credited in art magazines.

Museums seem to be holding onto "their" copyright because they make money through their rights and reproductions offices, but the objects belong in the cultural domain once the creator's original copyright has lapsed. In response to museums trying so ardently to "protect" their images, I heard one librarian say to another at the VRA Reception "who would have ever thought that museums would be our enemy"? It was shocking thing to say, and I was shocked to find myself agreeing with it.

Maryly Snow
slides[_at_]ced.berkeley.edu Received on Fri Mar 11 1994 - 20:40:18 GMT