Re: How can the Bettmann Arc

>> RE: How can the Bettmann Archive possibly work (or be legal) ?
>>
>> Bettman does not charge for the copyright use but for the physical
>> ownership of the photo or other work. They are the preserver and
>> keeper of the archive and therefore in order to maintain the works
>> for access and use in another work they charge for that use. They
>> also do searches for you of their archives and this can be invaluable
>> to a researcher for a publication or documentary.
>>
>> Elaine Coolbrith
>>
>*************
>
> Several people have made this same point, and it seems right to me. But
> one question lingers . . . why exactly does Bill Gates want to own this
> archive? Maybe it is because he can't think of anything else he hasn't
> already bought. If so, fine.
>
> But it seems more likely to me that Gates intends to digitize these works
> and, having done so, try to exert some control not just over the originals,
> but over the digitized versions as well. That seems more problematic from
> a copyright standpoint. Right? Or is there some claim to copyright
> residing in the "creative" work of running the art through a scanner?
>
> Even if copyright won't work, perhaps Gates can try to protect his digitized
> copies with some sort of mass-market contract (say, a shrinkwrap license?).
> But that protection doesn't seem terribly robust, even if we assume it is
> legal. All it takes is one buyer to breach the contract and anonymously
> post the material onto the Internet, and soon everyone can have free copies
> of the art. The poster may be liable for breach of contract, if she can be
> found, but presumably everyone else is free to copy the digitized work at
> that point.
>
> Mark Lemley
> Assistant Professor, University of Texas School of Law
> Of Counsel, Fish & Richardson, P.C.
> mlemley[_at_]mail.law.utexas.edu

He will make money the same way Bettman did. His customers, or those who copy from them, will not spend the time and money to build their own archives from the images acquired from Gates. It will be more economical for them to repurchase the image each time they want to use it. A new download each time is cheaper than storing the images, indexing them, and employing archivists. These are not generally customers who say "This is a pretty picture that I want to take and hang on my wall"; these are customers who say "I need a picture of the Great Wall of China in a vertical format to illustrate this article."

Gates will probably sell many of the images on CD, where it will be cheaper and more efficient to buy and use GAtes's CD than it will be to copy it oneself. His product will be a service: store, locate and retrieve the image; not an IP product: the image itself.

Buford C. Terrell                       1303 San Jacinto Street
Professor of Law                              Houston, TX 77002
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terrell[_at_]stcl.edu                            fax   (713)646-1766

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