This is true, but consider this situation.  

An artist has done a painting, which she wants turned into a set of
printed reproductions she can sell.  She takes it to a print shop, who
scans it, produces color separations as an intermediate printing step,
and prints 100 copies of it for her.  Even though the finished
reproductions are considered derivative works of the original, and the
artist has the right to make derivative works by copyright law, in the
absence of an agreement to the contrary the print shop owns the scans
and the color separations.  (there is a name for this that I forget
right now) The artist is not automatically entitled to them.  The print
shop cannot make a run of prints without the artist's permission, and
the artist cannot take the scan and separations to another print shop
without the print shop's permission (or by purchasing them from the
print shop).  Luckily most print shops will include the possession of
the intermediate materials in the cost of printing and will turn them
over, but if a print shop insists on keeping them, one should keep an
eye on the print shop because they may be doing a brisk business in
unauthorized reprints.

Julia Muney Moore
Public Art Administrator
Blackburn Architects, Indianapolis, IN
(317) 875-5500 x219
   
 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of David Harvey
Sent: Thursday, December 27, 2007 4:34 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [MUSEUM-L] Copyright Issues

Lynn,

There are several issues here.

Copyright is very specific.

Copyright is owned by the author(s) of the content of the work - and
very specific works are covered such as publications, performing arts,
visual art, architecture, etc. You can copyright a "work" once it has
been rendered into some material form - so peformances cannot be
copyrighted but scores, scripts, and other hard copies can. You cannot
copyright phrases, names, ideas. All rights inherently belong to the
authors (creators) of the contents unless they speciifcally release
those rights through a written insturment, such as a work for hire, or
other legal contract that assigns the all rights or part of them to
another party.

Just because someone has physical possession or "owns" the work as
physical  property does NOT mean that they own the rights.

Objects that are made commercially - such as toasters -  are more
likely to be subject to patent and trademark law.

The shop owner has no inherent rights to the content of the CD because
he did not create the original content nor has written license to do
so. An analogy would be if a recording studio claimed the rights for a
CD that a band had recorded there. Just because someone is hired to
reproduce, restore, or "publish" something does not mean that they own
any part of it in terms of copyright. As stated before on the list
there is the doctrine of "Fair Use' but that is solely intended for
limited educational and non-profit purposes (most Libraries are well
acquainted with this for xeroxing use). If someone copies sometthing
and charges a fee or distributes it then you are indeed a "pirate".

The person who owns the rights to the film is the person who created
it, and if they have passed away, then their heirs, up to 70 years
after the creation of the work.

Also, an artist or "author" not only has the right to control the sale
of their works but they also have specific control over its artistic
intent and integrity - this means that if you have an outdoor
sculpture and "restore" it without consultation with the artist or
their heirs then you are in violation of the artist's rights. If you
have a film and re-edit it and sell it, you are in violation of the
copyright, the same goes for music or a play. The work of art cannot
be materially altered or changed in any way without the permission of
the holder of the copyright.

The US Copyright Office has a very user-friendly web site - look up
their FAQ list and read.

www.copyright.gov

Cheers!
Dave

Daivd Harvey
Conservator
Los Angeles, CA

On 12/27/07, Lynne <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> > I am wondering if any of you out there might have stories you would
be
> > willing to share regarding copyright questions or legal problems
your
> > museums (etc.) have encountered.  I would of course be willing to
keep
> > your
> > information confidential, but would like to use some stories to
illustrate
> > common problems.
>
> I sent the following reply e-mail directly to Jamie, but I think I
would
> like to ask for input from the list members on this copyright issue
that
> arose in our small museum:
>
>      We were recently given a donation of a 16 mm film of our town's
1957
> centennial parade. A local fireman found it in the (recycling center)
and he
> hung onto it until this year, which is the town's 150th anniversary.
Before
> he gave it to us, he took it to a local camera shop and they
transferred it
> to DVD for him. He gave us both the original 16 mm film and the DVD of
the
> movie -- and kept a DVD for himself. I reimbursed him (out of my own
pocket,
> as we have negligible income), then accessioned the two items.
>     I showed the movie to the members of the town's sesquicentennial
> committee and the town business administrator wanted to make copies to
sell
> to residents. I told him that the camera store owner wanted $20 per
copy and
> the administrator said he could get it done for $10 per copy. He then
asked
> for the DVD we were given, so he could reproduce it. I balked and said
the
> camera store owner may be the one who owns the rights to the content
of that
> DVD and everyone argued that since WE own the original film, we have
the
> rights.
>     I checked Marie Malaro's museum law book and she noted that the
issue is
> not clear, but that one should protect one's rights by having the
person
> doing the digital conversion sign something saying the museum owns the
> rights to the digital version the convertor is about to create. Of
course,
> the fireman did not have anyone sign anything, so the matter is
unresolved.
> The township's attorneys did not feel it was an issue, by the way.
>     Right about the same time we had some maps in our collection
reproduced.
> The photo reproduction shop photographed the maps, scanned their photo
of
> them, cleaned them up, then printed them for us, on acid-free paper
with
> UV-filtering inks. When he was done I was given a CD with the digital
> version of the maps and I told the shop owner about the film question.
I
> said "So, who owns the rights to the map CD you just gave me?" He
replied
> "You do. You paid for it." I said "What if I took it to a photo
reproduction
> shop down the street and asked them to reprint the maps from it,
because
> they can do it for a lower cost?" He raised his voice and said "You
can't do
> that! That's MY work!" I made my point.
>    Therefore, I will henceforth have everyone sign a form saying we
own the
> rights to the digital version of the conversion.
>
> Do you have a form you have the converter sign? Would you share it if
you
> do?
> Lynne Ranieri
> Millburn-Short Hills Historical Society
>
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