Re: Fine Art Reproductions

On Thu, 22 Apr 1999, Tyler Ochoa <tochoa[_at_]law.whittier.edu> wrote:
>
> On 4/21/99, Amalyah Keshet <akeshet[_at_]imj.org.il> wrote:
> >
> > On 1999-04-18, Robert Panzer <bigbusie[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Mon, 12 Apr 1999, Amalyah Keshet <akeshet[_at_]imj.org.il> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Any museum that can raise the money opens public-access study
> > > > rooms so that works in reserve can be seen and studied by
> > > > interested individuals. We have three.
> > >
> > > I was writing about public access for the purpose of reproduction.
> > > Seen and studied, yes, but would the museum allow interested
> > > individuals to produce high quality photographs for reproduction?
> > > Most museums in the U.S. would not. Public domain means the right
> > > to reproduce the work, not to look at it.
> >
> > What about public domain works in private collections? Would you have
> > the same expectations and make the same demands for access? How?
>
> Actually, I WOULD require that owners of original PD works make them
> available to the public for reproduction. It's a socialist notion
> that's not likely to ever be adopted in the U.S., but I'm not trying to
> hold museums to a higher standard. And I acknowledge that the "how" of
> public access is a tough question.

While I hate copyright almost all of my heart, I do not agree with the idea to force the private owners (as opposed to the public entities) make their legally acquired public domain works available to the public. It is their own private things and we have no business in nosing around their private collections.

However, they have a moral obligation to the society and to the whole world in preserving the public domain works. If they cannot fulfill the moral obligation, they should at least make the public domain works available for reproduction or sale or both.

I do not agree, on the other hand, with several points on why the public entities (that are funded by taxes such as the Smithsonian Institution) should be allowed to control the access to the public domain works (I do accept some exceptions such as to limit the damage to the works themselves) and thus, control the propagation of the works via copyright or any contract. Because I paid them with my taxes, I should be allowed to reproduce the public domain works without any restriction.

My two heavy cents.

Joseph Pietro Riolo
<riolo[_at_]voicenet.com> Received on Tue Apr 27 1999 - 10:04:30 GMT