[Wikipedia-l] Copyright question

[Ray Saintonge]

Jimmy Wales wrote:

>Gareth Owen wrote:
>
>>Does anyone know the status of photos taken of works in museums/galleries
>>(in this case, the Museum of Anthropology at UBC, Vancouver)
>>
>
>I think this is a very good question.
>
>If the work is already in the public domain, then there should be no
>copyright problems with taking such a picture, although museum rules
>for photography would presumably come into play.  If a museum forbids
>photography, and you take a picture anyway, then you've probably
>broken the (implicit?) contract for admission to the museum.  But this
>is not, strictly speaking, a matter of copyright.
>
>If the work is not in the public domain, then a photograph at
>web-resolution probably meets "fair use" as well as anything possibly
>could.  I'm assuming here that you mean a photo that YOU take, of a
>potentially copyrighted subject.  If a photographer takes a picture of
>the Mona Lisa, we can't assume that that *photograph* is in the public
>domain, even if the *Mona Lisa* is.
>
>--Jimbo
>
I agree that violating museum rules is not a matter of copyright.  If 
you do so, you do it at your own risk.  If you get away without the 
museum seizing your film, then whatever copyrights go with the 
photograph would be yours.

Canadian copyright law, which applies here since you are talking about a 
museum in Canada, makes a specific exclusion in the definition of 
"publication" to photographs of sculptures and architectural works.  Of 
course this does open the question of just what do we mean by 
"sculpture". I would venture to say that dugout canoes and Haida masks 
qualify as sculptures, but a lot of modern mixed media productions that 
do not fall into the traditional carved concept of sculptures.

Copyright in photographs also links to the ownership of the original 
negative or plate.  Two independently photographed images of the "Mona 
Lisa" would not impinge on each other's copyrights.  If I remember 
correctly  the Louvre does not ban photography, but does ban flash 
equipment and tripods.

Eclecticology