The responses so far have been interesting.
In the UK you don't break copyright if you photograph "buildings, and
sculptures, models for buildings and works of artistic craftsmanship, if
permanently situated in a public place of in premises open to the
public." (1988 copyright act) Otherwise you will breach copyright if you
take photographs of art that is still in copyright (i.e. the artist has
not been dead for more than 70 years).  For older artworks etc.
photographed in a museum or archive you would not breach copyright but
if entry was on condition that you did not photograph the works you
would have broken you contract with the museum and they might be able to
sue you.

There are conservation issues if flash is used, however for documents in
archives using a digital camera would reduce the handling of the
document and especially if flash was not used would result in less light
exposure than taking a photocopy. 

Interestingly the online photo service would be breaching copyright if
it made copies of any photograph that had been made in breach of
copyright (would this be true under US law as well?).  I'm not sure what
the position would be if the original photograph had been made under
some sort of private use clause and the photo service made
copies/enlargements for a fee - surely the photo service would be making
the copies for a commercial reason?

Trevor Reynolds
Collections Registrar, English Heritage, Room 530, 23 Savile Row, London
W1S 2ET, United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7973 3482  Fax: +44 (0) 20 7973 3209

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
> Behalf Of Roger Smith
> Sent: 29 April 2005 23:23
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Feedback encouraged - a most concerning new trend among many
> digital camera and cameraphone users
> 
> I received this from the owner of a commercial photoprint company.
List
> users may be interested in commenting ,as he is clearly concerned
about
> this
> apparently growing trend.  Your thoughts?... which I could forward on
to
> him
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> --------------------------------------------------------
> 
> " Hi Roger,
> I wanted to bring to your attention a most concerning new trend among
many
> digital camera and cameraphone users.  As the owner of an online
> nationwide
> boutique photo service, I have noticed that more customers are
snapping
> photos of art -- from paintings to photographs at an alarming rate. A
> typical example is someone on vacation and instead of buying art, they
> simply take a picture and have us enlarge it.  They then order custom
> photo
> enlargements with our online photo service, and thus preclude the
> necessity
> from buying the art directly.  I am concerned about protecting the
rights
> of
> the artist and equally protecting their livelihood.  I wanted to share
> this
> with you and  Global Museum readers and was wondering if this is a
growing
> trend that you have also been experiencing"
>
------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
> -------------------------------------------------------
> 
> best wishes to all
> 
> Roger
> [log in to unmask]
> 
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