[Wikimedia-l] Copyright on Xrays

[James Heilman]

A question about copyright, who owns the copyright on Xrays and are they
even copyrightable? I have uploaded a few of them and no one seems to know
the answer. I guess the options would be:

1) They are in the public domain
https://open.umich.edu/wiki/Casebook#Radiograph_.28X-Ray.29 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Works_eligible_for_protection

2) The X ray tech who took the image
3) The person / institution who paid to have the image taken
 a) The HMO or patient if in the USA
 b) The government if in many parts of the world
4) The doctor who ordered the image
5) The doctor who read the image
6) The hospital / shareholders of the hospital who owns the equipment
7) All of the above / some of the above / none of the above

Would be good to have a legal position on this.
-- 
James Heilman
MD, CCFP-EM, Wikipedian

The Wikipedia Open Textbook of Medicine
www.opentextbookofmedicine.com