[WikiEN-l] Wikimedian image restorations exploited on eBay

[Ray Saintonge]

Durova wrote:
> A new creative copyright is generated each time a tourist stands beneath the
> Venus de Milo and takes a snapshot due to the inherent creative decision in
> choosing angle and lighting when photographing three dimensional artwork.
>   

No, the copyright is not generated until the photo is fixed in a 
published form.  Often the photographer is unknown because he is a 
passing stranger to whom we hand our camera for the single purpose of 
taking that picture.

> Creative copyright also attaches when the same tourist heads over to the
> Mona Lisa and takes another snapshot, since the frame around the Mona Lisa
> is three dimensional (there's also the creative joy of capturing dozens of
> tourist ballcaps in the periphery).
>   

I would prefer to wait until the ballcaps have moved out of the picture, 
and I can easily crop out a rectangular frame.  It's also important to 
remember that the criterion for copyright is originality rather than 
creativity.

> At the time of that work I was thinking if it came out right, a viewer might
> imagine for an instant that Admiral Farragut was capable of turning and
> ordering another assault on New Orleans.  Of course with eyes a few pixels
> moved and the expression could have turned out entirely different.

Another change in the eyes could have him leering suggestively toward a 
youthful crew member.


Ec