Mike.lifeguard wrote:
Furthermore (and in a bizarre distortion of anything reasonable), NPG actually claims copyright on photos that individual visitors take. So, copyright on PD works is only OK if they own it... now that's just ridiculous. I'm not sure appeasing them is possible or even a good idea; this seems totally irrational and vindictive and furthermore contrary to their mission as a public institution.
That would indeed be ridiculous, but it's not part of their letter to Coetze. They know that he's in the U.S. and didn't just show up at the NPG with his camera to take all those pictures. The claim is that he took them from their database. "Irrational" and "vindictive" don't apply when they are looking after what they perceive to be their legitimate interests. "Capitalist" would be a more appropriate epithet.
Ec