This publication thing is a complete red herring. The country of
publication would matter only if the images had _not _been published in
the UK (or a specified country under section 155 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.) If the images had been published _only
_in, say, Afghanistan, then under S 155 no copyright would subsist at
all. But as the images have been published in the UK (at least)
copyright _does _subsist and the UK courts have power over that
copyright. There is a clear UK nexus with the copyright owner, the
place of the photography and the location of the paintings, and
accordingly the UK court will apply UK law. There is absolutely no
doubt about it, I am afraid.
Michael Maggs
teun spaans wrote:
Hi,
i doubt you can say that the national gallery has choosen to publish in the
USA. There servers are probably in the UK, so i'd say that they publish in
the UK. That the pages can be viewed in the USA is a different matter.
Analogy: If i print and publish/sell a book in the Netherlands, I publish it
here in the Netherlands. If some USA retailer orders 2000 copies to sell in
the states, that doesnt mean i publish them in the USA, merely that they are
for sale in the USA.
But a lot depends on the definition of "publication" / "publish"
wish you health and happiness,
Teun Spaans
On Wed, Jul 23, 2008 at 7:10 PM, geni <geniice(a)gmail.com> wrote:
2008/7/23 Michael Maggs
<Michael(a)maggs.name>me>:
An interesting theory, but it does not work, of
course, or Commons
policy would be in chaos. You cannot arbitarily choose which country is
the one in which the works were published to suit Commons' convenience.
That depends on the legal system. Under UK law the national gallery
has chosen to publish in the US. You will note the the BBC goes out of
it's way to limit what people from the US can view and listen to on
it's website. The national gallery was free to do that but did not.
Thus the images were published in the US and as long as they were
copied across by someone in the US are no different from any other
pure US image.
There is no choice of law here: the photographs
were taken in the UK, of
paintings held in the UK, on behalf of a UK museum, and have been
published by that museum on a UK website and by issuing postcards and
other reproductions in the UK. Why would any UK court think that US
law should be applied?
Michael
They wouldn't but they would think the photos have been published in
the US. They would of course argue that commons is publishing the
photos in the UK so UK law also applies but they would argue that
about all our photos.
--
geni
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