Hi Elizabeth --

The Sir Christopher Wren Building at the College of William and Mary dates
back to 1693, and was restored in 1928-32.  We were successful only in
getting an architect to redesign a "copy" of the building he was creating
for a corporate headquarters in Maryland.  At the time, we were advised that
"copyrighting" the building after all these years might be possible, but not
useful.  We wanted to ensure that its image would appear only on high
quality merchandise and particularly that such things be licensed by the
College, with appropriate royalties.  It took negotiations with merchants in
the area to persuade them that it would help their community relations if
they sold only the likenesses that the College had approved.  They agreed.
Ross Weeks
-----Original Message-----
From: Elizabeth Stith <[log in to unmask]>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.museum-l
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Saturday, September 12, 1998 4:16 PM
Subject: Re: Copyright


>Julia - I would love to know where in the NYT you read the article about
buildings being copyrighted.  There are lots of folks out there making money
selling reproductions of this house and we get not one cent!  Thanks very
much - Elizabeth Stith