You've picked a difficult topic, if you want cases & legal precedent to quote.
There is very little, as others have pointed out. Robert Baron gave you a
summary of just about what there is.

Almost all disputes are settled out of court, because the majority of museums
haven't the money to sue or to defend, and usually the monetary significance of
an infringement is minimal, or at least not worth suing over. If a museum were
caught infringing (reproduction on t-shirts, etc.) presumably it would simply pay

up to the artist/copyright holder. I know of no cases in which reproduction in a
museum catalogue resulted in infringement claims. While the museum should
technically obtain permission to reproduce a work under copyright in its
catalogues (and our museum does), it is such an accepted and assumed practice --
neccessity, actually -- of catalogue production, and generally wholly to the
artist's benefit (raises the value of his oeuvre, rather than causing him
econimic loss), that it would be quite exceptional for an artist to sue over this

kind of reproduction. I'm not sure he/she would prevail at any rate; if the work
is exhibited with the artist's consent, it is implied by accepted museum practice

that it will be reproduced in the exhibition catalogue; most artists would
complain if it wasn't. Reproduction in the catalogue is actually more important
to the artist in many cases than display in the exhibition; the exhibition comes
down, but the catalogue is permanent and distributable documentation and
publicity.

As for third-party copying, that's a tricky one.  Assuming the museum has the
right to display the works of art it owns, or borrows and exhibits with the
artist's or lenders consent, it's a stretch to think that the museum can be held
liable for what the visiting public (or catalogue-reading public) does. The
museum can, of course, be expected to prevent damage to the work of art (guards
and security procedures) and not allow photography in the exhibition -- and
provide artist copyright notices in its catalogues.

We've been involved in one case of liability for copyright infringement: the
release to a publisher of a color transparency of a work copyright to which, it
turns out, had been transferred by the artist to another publisher -- in the late

1920's/early 1930's.  This is, in fact, a much more likely area for copyright
liability. The fact that we were not aware of the copyright transfer (we work
directly with the artist's family, and even they forgot about this one!), and the

fact that the suing publisher was willing to settle for a quantity of books from
the third-party publisher, for sale in their own shop, resulted in the case being

settled out of court.

Your topic is, in short, very important on the theoretical level -- most museums
are, I would generalize, concerned with the issue.  But there is (fortunately for

us) very little legal history. If you have more questions, I'll be happy to help,

on or off list.

-------------------------------------
amalyah keshet
head of visual resources, the israel museum, jerusalem
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
date: 11/22/97
visit our web site at http://www.imj.org.il
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-----------------------Original Message----------------------------
I am a law student currently writing a directed research on the issue of
Museum Liability for Copyright Infringment -- of works displayed
(e.g. an appropriationist's copyright infringment), and works copied by
the museum (in catalogues, or reproduced on t-shirts, stationery, and the
like).

So far, my research has yielded no reported cases and no articles in
any major publications.  The only cases which relate to this topic are Rogers
v Koons, and Dauman v Estate of Andy Warhol, because galleries are named
as co-defendants.

If anyone has any comments, experience in this area, or has read anything
that might apply here, I would greatly appreciate your help. Additionally,
I will be writing a paper next spring on Intermuseum Loans in the EC, and
would welcome any information on that topic as well.

Thank you.

-- Bari B. Brandes