Re: DACS vs Thames & Hudson

From: <akeshet[_at_]netvision.net.il>
Date: Mon, 1 Apr 96 07:04:54 PST

> On Thu, 21 Mar 1996 11:13:54 -0800 (PST)  Christine Sundt wrote:

>>
>> I stumbled across an article in _The Art Newspaper_ about an "image
>> copyright battle" that was to take place in the Bow Street Magistrates
>> Court (London), on March 13, 1995 (last year). Does anyone know the
>> outcome of this case? I tried doing a net search on the keywords,
>> but got nothing (AltaVista and InfoSeek). Should I be looking elsewhere?
>>
>> Incidentally, according to the article, "DACS alleges that Thames and
>> Hudson infringed copyright by reproducing paintings in the book without
>> paying a royalty to an artist's (Max Beckmann's) heirs."
>>
>> Thanks.
>>
>> Christine Sundt
>> University of Oregon
>> <csundt[_at_]oregon.uoregon.edu>

I read a long time ago about DACS's intention to sue Thames & Hudson. The article I read mentioned that the publisher is known for its disregard of artists' copyright. Reportedly, their attitude is that they are doing artists a favor by publishing their works, and that their (trade) books are ipso facto "educational" and therefore exempt from such issues,or words to that effect. A picture researcher once told me that the publisher is notoriously tight-fisted in terms of compensating authors and obtaining reproduction rights. In fact, I have in my office now a book of theirs containing our copyright photographs, which were not licensed from us. We are considering what action to take, and therefore I also am most interested in the results of the above case, if anyone can enlighten us.

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Name: amalyah keshet
director, visual resources / the israel museum, jerusalem E-mail: akeshet[_at_]imj.org.il
Date: 03/28/96

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Received on Mon Apr 01 1996 - 06:42:46 GMT