With regards to the discussion on British
galleries' rights to claim
copyright over pictures of their PD artworks, I've dug up the relevant
piece of legislation. It is, frankly, a very dumb piece of legislation,
but in my non-lawyer opinion here are the relevant clauses:
From the British Copyright, Design and Patents Act
1988:
In Section 4
(1)In this Part "artistic work" means.
(a)a graphic work, photograph, sculpture or collage, irrespective of
artistic quality,
...
"photograph" means a recording of light or other radiation
on any medium on which an image is produced or from which an
image may by any means be produced, and which is not part of
a film;
From Section 17:
(1)The copying of the
work is an act restricted by the copyright in
every description of copyright work; and references in this Part to
copying and copies shall be construed as follows.
(2)Copying in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or
artistic work means reproducing the work in any material form.
This includes storing the work in any medium by electronic means.
(3)In relation to an artistic work copying includes the making
of a copy in three dimensions of a two-dimensional work and the
making of a copy in two dimensions of a three-dimensional work.
Not very promising.
Pessimist! I find that the copying by the galleries is clearly
restricted by 17(1) -- and thus an infringement of the copyrights owned
by the public domain.
Ec