Don't you think a case could be made for a reproduction in a stolen art database

qualifying for a Fair Use exception as newsreporting?

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amalyah keshet
head of visual resources, the israel museum, jerusalem
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
date: 08/29/97
visit our web site at http://www.imj.org.il
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On Thu, 28 Aug 1997 22:22:20 -0400  Robert A. Baron wrote:

>Here is a hypothetical question regarding stolen art and copyright:
>
>A work of art, under copyright, is stolen from a museum which owns the
>object, but not the rights of reproduction.  Might the copyright holder
>successfully claim infringement if the object owner places reproductions of
>the stolen work on the various databases and lists maintained to help
>identify and find stolen works?
>
>I see nothing in the "fair use" provisions of the U.S. copyright law which
>might apply here.  Normally copies of such works are allowed for "internal"
>object management and insurance; but public databases of stolen art,
>especially if placed on the Web, may be thrown into the same basket of
>infringing usages as public dababases of artworks that are not stolen.
>
>Robert Baron
>[log in to unmask]
>