Re: Kinko's and Ticketmaster

On Thu, 22 Jul 1999, Steven D. Jamar <sjamar[_at_]law.howard.edu> wrote:
>
> If the work is public domain, then claiming copyright is improper --
> though perhaps the copyright would be in the collection and organization
> of them all.

Often, publishers or museums claim copyrights on purely technical reproductions of public domain works, like old paintings or classical works. I think this is not only improper, but in my opinion also an infringement of the public's rights, and it would be nice to have this codified in the law as well, with the same criminal repercussions as other infringements have.

However, how to deal with such claims, I have a couple of art books with reproductions of works clearly in the public domain, and wish to scan them, and place on the net. They will probably not be able to proof how I created the copy, but, because they have been able to control access to the work since before the advent of photography, can very well claim I am infringing somebodies copy of it...

Jeroen Hellingman
<jehe[_at_]kabelfoon.nl> Received on Tue Jul 27 1999 - 16:31:29 GMT