Steve Rooney, Gerard Perez, and especially Robert Lind have answered you
quite well. Perhaps I can contribute a something here by way of a basic
explanation of what copyright is, in order to help clarify your question and
the answers as well. Perhaps others on the list are interested.
You do not copyright anything. Copyright is not a verb. It is property: a
package of legal rights belonging initially to the author or creator of a
work of art, literature, etc. Copyright exists as an incentive to encourage
creativity, balanced with limits to allow the public to benefit from these
creative works.
When a work of art is created, two things spring into being: the physical
work of art, and copyright in it. These are two *separate* pieces of
legally defined property. Each of these pieces of property can be sold,
transferred, licensed, left to one's heirs, etc., like any other property --
separately and not neccessarily together. What does that mean? An artist
can sell a painting, let's say, to a collector, and retain the copyright in
it for himself (and his heirs). Or he can do precisely the opposite: he can
sell the copyright to a publisher and keep the painting. Later, he can
donate the painting to a museum; the publisher, of course, still owns the
copyright. The publisher can license the copyright to an advertiser. You
get the idea.
(It used to be that in the U.S. one had to register copyright with the
Copyright Office at the Library of Congress. Since the U.S. became a
signator to the (international) Berne Convention on copyright, however,
copyright is automatic at the moment of creation in the U.S. too.)
The exception to the basic rule: in your case, the "creators" seem to have
been employees of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (you'd better check
this out; the law clearly defines what constitutes an "employee" in this
connection). As Robert Lind has explained, the copyright in works created by
salaried employees in the course of their employment is usually the
property of the employer, who is in this case considered the creator (the
initiator of the creation, if you will). Unless contracted otherwise in
writing, of course. Therefore, it would seem probable that the Foundation
owns (the already existing) copyright to the photographs in question (*but*
n.b.: not to any others the Library or Foundation may possess which were
not made by these salaried staff photographers, unless you have written
transfer of copyright.) That would mean that you could license their use.
(This is not legal advice, by the way. Just a conjecture based on the little
information you've written.)
Robert Lind has explained about the length of time this copyright is valid,
before the photographs enter the public domain.
By the way, knowing what a solid and veteran institution the Colonial
Williamsburg Foundation is, I find it startling that you had to ask this
question. Surely the matter has come up before now? Surely Colonial
Williamsburg's marketing or P.R. office has had to deal with staff
photographers and copyright issues? You mention "colleagues in
Visual Resources" --? IMHO.
Please let me know, on list or off, if I can help clarify anything further.
-------------------------------------
Name: amalyah keshet
director, visual resources, the israel museum, jerusalem
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Date: 04/06/96
-------------------------------------
On Fri, 29 Mar 1996 14:16:00 EST Liz Ackert wrote:
>This request for information is being cross-posted to Museum-L and
>Libref-L. Please forward it to colleagues who may be able to assist
us.
>___
>
>The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library has extensive holdings
of
>photographic images (in excess of 200,000). My colleagues in Visual
>Resources wish to know if other museums and/or libraries copyright
>individual photographic images in their collections. This question
relates
>especially to those images which are requested for use in periodical
and
>book publications.
>
>If your institution does copyright photographic images, it would be
useful
>for us to know when the application for copyright is usually
initiated. Is
>it at the time a contract is drawn up as part of a rights and
reproductions
>transaction? Or are selected images copyrighted in anticipation of
their
>use by other publishers? And if so, how are such decisions made.
>
>Please respond privately and I will summarize responses to the list.
Many
>thanks in advance for your consideration and assistance.
>
>Liz Ackert
>
>
>
> >>:> >>:> >>:> >>:> >>:> >>:> >>:> >>:> >>:>
>
> Liz Ackert ([log in to unmask])
> Public Services Librarian
> Colonial Williamsburg Foundation Library
> P.O. Box 1776 / 415 North Boundary Street
> Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776
> Phone (804) 220-7419 Fax (804) 221-8902
>
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