At 09:50 AM 11/5/98 +0000, Stephen Nowlin wrote:

>I'm working on a project with a museum that will be lending numerous
>works from their collection to our gallery.  For the catalogue, they are
>spending a lot of effort trying to track down artists or their estates in
>order to gain permission for reproduction.
>
>I thought that museums held the right to reproduce works in their
>collections.  I've borrowed from other museums and reproduced their works
>in catalogues and never had this issue come up.  Anyone know what the
>copyright law is in these matters?

If the work is still under copyright and is a recent work, made after 1978
(I think) then the copyright is automatically vested in the maker or his
heirs. Until late October this year the copyright would last for 50 years
after the maker's death, now under the provisions of the recently signed
"Sonny Bono [yes that's right] Copyright Extension Act" an extra 20 years
is tacked on.

Museums that acquire works in the United States, do NOT automatically
inherit the copyright or any right to reproduce the work, though in the US
(not in Canada) they do have the display right.  Naturally, museums should
be well advised, when they obtain works from artists, to acquire at least a
non-exclusive license to reproduce the work in a number of typical museum
situations, such as in exhibit catalogues, etc.

The above notwithstanding, some museum uses of copyrighted materials may
qualify as "fair uses."  If such applies it is not necessary to ask for
permission to reproduce works, however, fair use analyses are tricky and
are best left to your legal counsel.  But in short, educational, nonprofit,
transformative usages that do not substantively diminish the economic value
of the work or its value as a reproductive item may qualify.  Some people
will argue that small-run exhibit catalogues sold at cost and produced by
non-profit educational institutions may qualify, others take a more
conservative stance.

Note that the College Art Association (CAA) and the American Association of
Museums (AAM) independently are collecting questions such as the one posed
above to be used in forthcoming guidebooks to the use of intellectual
property in educational, scholarly, artistic and museum environments.

To address questions to the CAA project address them to me:
mailto:[log in to unmask] with the letters "CIPQA" in the subject line.

To address questions to the AAM project send them to Diane Zorich:
mailto:[log in to unmask]


Robert Baron
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