<html><head><style type="text/css"><!-- DIV {margin:0px;} --></style></head><body><div style="font-family:times new roman,new york,times,serif;font-size:12pt"><div>IANAL, but I would say it's solid as it has been cited in <em>Latimer v. Roaring Toyz, Inc.</em>, 2008 WL 697346 (M.D. Fl.)</div><div style="font-family: times new roman,new york,times,serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br><div style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><hr size="1"><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">From:</span></b> Howard Cheng <howard@howcheng.com><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">To:</span></b> Wikimedia Commons Discussion List <commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org><br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Sent:</span></b> Thursday, November 20, 2008 4:42:29 PM<br><b><span style="font-weight: bold;">Subject:</span></b> [Commons-l] Photos of statues not considered derivatives in the US?<br></font><br>
According to <a href="http://williampatry.blogspot.com/2008/02/photographs-and-derivative-works.html" target="_blank">http://williampatry.blogspot.com/2008/02/photographs-and-derivative-works.html</a>,<br>Judge William H. Pauley III of the Southern District of New York ruled<br>in SHL Imaging, Inc. v. Artisan House, Inc., 117 F. Supp. 2d 301 (S.D.<br>N.Y. 2000) that photographs of statues/sculptures are not considered<br>derivative works, noting: "A photograph of Jeff Koons's 'Puppy'<br>sculpture in Manhattan's Rockefeller Center merely depicts that<br>sculpture; it does not recast, transform, or adapt Koons's sculptural<br>authorship. In short, the authorship of the photographic work is<br>entirely different and separate from the authorship of the sculpture."<br><br>Note that this is the same court that issued the Bridgeman v. Corel<br>ruling. If this hasn't been overturned at any point, and the blog post<br>linked above doesn't indicate that it has,
then we should start<br>allowing photos of statues in the US, and perhaps anywhere even where<br>there is no FOP for statues (similar to what we did for PD-Art).<br><br>Thoughts?<br><br>-h<br><br>_______________________________________________<br>Commons-l mailing list<br><a ymailto="mailto:Commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org" href="mailto:Commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org">Commons-l@lists.wikimedia.org</a><br><a href="https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/commons-l" target="_blank">https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/commons-l</a><br></div></div></div><br>
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