[Foundation-l] About that "sue and be damned" to the National Portrait Gallery ...

[Gregory Maxwell]

On Sat, Jul 11, 2009 at 4:03 PM, Ray Saintonge<saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
[snip]
> If in retrospect, publishing the letter is seen as a strategic mistake,
> it can't be unpublished.  There are arguments available for it being a
> strategic positive.

One argument for it being a mistake is that the early disclosure has
diminished his supporters ability to shape the public debate.

There are some relevant pieces of information that would influence
people's opinions, things like that the NPG previously complaining
about low resolution photographs and photographs taken by the
uploaders. (I haven't gone and tried to find examples from the latter
from the NPG, but UK museums have routinely tried to assert copyright
over photographs taken by commons contributors).

The real interesting story here is that museums all over the over the
world believe that holding the physical good gives them unlimited
rights to regulate all uses of copies and even rights to regulate
discussions of those works, and that they are now beginning to partner
with commercial service providers seeking to monetize that control and
becoming litigious as a result. In the end the public's access to the
works shrinks, the public domain is eroded, and the lie is put to the
lofty claims of education, promotion, and preservation included in the
grant requests and mission statements of museums.