Copyright is a tricky subject, particularly for photographs of artworks.  In general, a photograph of another artwork that tries to reproduce the original work does not qualify for its own copyright because it lacks the requisite originality to be copyrightable.  In other words, if your volunteer took photos of the artworks with no original qualities, then she does not hold the copyright to the image regardless of what sort of notice she places on the photo.  The case of Bridgeman v. Corel in the 2nd circuit explains this distinction (Bridgeman Art Library sued Corel for reproducing on a CD ROM Bridgeman's photographs of public domain artworks and they lost because their reproductions of public domain works were not original and so did not qualify for copyright protection).

In short, even if her photo is copyrightable (because it is in some way original) that does not mean that she now has control over the copyright of works in the museum collection.  she does, however, have control over her photograph, minus the copyrighted work in the image.  Technically, she should have to license the right to the work in her image because she has made a derivative work unless the use of the museum's copyrighted work is fair use.  

As for the article, without knowing details, it is likely that she retains copyright.  The images, however, are subject to the discussion above.

Please take all of this with a grain of salt, as I have not seen the images, do not know whether the works she photographed in your collection are in the public domain or are still under copyright, and etc.

I hope this helps!


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From: Museum discussion list [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Candace Perry [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Friday, July 22, 2011 12:06 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] photography/copyright question

I have a difficult issue with a complicated volunteer situation.  We have an individual who volunteers here as a cataloger and researcher. This person also does personal research in our collections, but there have been times when the personal research and the volunteer work overlapped. She also volunteers for another local organization.
During her time here she has taken many digital photographs, which I and my colleague in the archives have permitted, in part believing (which now is apparently wrong) that this was part of her volunteering. For awhile now I have been seeing her use images from our collections which she then attaches the copyright symbol and her name to, which I understand in theory, but am a bit – well, frankly annoyed – because she did not discuss this with anyone here. And I don’t know whether this automatically gives her free rein to use our images. They aren’t anything all that great – some of them have actually been pretty bad, image wise.
Furthermore, she submitted an article for the journal that is associated with our organization – not our journal, but with the church with which we are affiliated – and has put her copyright info on that also, although it is a church publication. The article has to be proofread and edited, and there are several actual typos and some other problems. Her copyright info is also on the images in the article, not just ours but those of the  other organization she is working with.
I becoming increasingly concerned about this, and now I need some professional help – in more ways than one!  She is a bit of a difficult sort – I won’t go into that – and I am very reluctant to start conversations with her as I either get too many apologies or defensiveness. Neither is fun.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

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