I beg to differ, Tod. Copyright is routinely transferred. Copyright, put simply, is the legal right to make copies. Authors (for example) transfer their copyrights to publishers all the time. You may transfer ownership and license separately without transferring copyright, but you can also most certainly transfer copyright.

Elizabeth
(also not a lawyer)

On Fri, Mar 30, 2018 at 12:07 PM, Tod Hopkins <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Your director is not the first to feel that people are “stealing” your images. That’s a reasonable emotional reaction, but not a rational one. The real question is are you being harmed and is any response meaningful and appropriate.

For instance, would the people that are “stealing" your images otherwise buy them from your gift shop? Are they harming the value of the institution? 

Are you cutting off your nose to spite your face? If I come in to your institution, see something I like, and then post a picture of this on Instagram, have I done you any harm? Do you want to discourage this?

Is there evidence that people are capturing your content and reusing it inappropriately? This might be a reasonable fear for institutions that have unusually valuable content. While you do not have copyright of a historic photo, you may have physical control over the only copy. 

One more legal technicality: You cannot be given “copyright." Copyright is non-transferrable property of an item. A creator can transfer ownership, rights, and license, but not the “copyright” itself. The distinction is not usually important, but it can be, especially in a legal document. 

Cheers,
                  tod not-a-lawyer


Tod Hopkins
Hillmann & Carr Inc.



On Mar 30, 2018, at 11:12 AM, Ashley LaVigne <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello again,

To answer some questions I think people have--like other institutions, our museum does sell our images from our archives, but the profit generated from the sale of these photos is is not substantial. Helpful for our very small society, but not something we clearly count on. My director is very adamant that people are stealing our images when we exhibit them or use them during public discussions and wants to deter people from even photographing them--explaining to him that we cannot stop people from photographing the kiosks or using them for personal/educational usage is difficult. It is only the two of us in our society and for now I must tread carefully while sharing the information you have all shared with me here. I am doing my very best to fight it though!  

As someone else suggested, we do have usage forms for when our images are used in publications and those types of matters, but honestly, *I* am not the one really concerned over the copyright issue. Our deeds of gift also do contain verbiage that if people possess copyright to the material they are donating, that it is given to us.

I personally want to be able to exhibit our images freely without muddling them up with intrusive watermarks; especially when they don't belong there in the first place.

I am grateful for the time you all have spent in replying to my inquiry here and appreciate the suggested reading. I am going to get my hands on everything I can.

Thanks again.

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