Jennifer Jaskowiak wrote:
>
> I have a question about copyright and reproduction of photographs of buildings.
>
> What are the copyright restrictions, if any?  Who holds the copyright to a
> photograph of a museum?  Does it matter if the museum commissioned the
> photograph?


As I understand copyrights, if the museum commissioned the photograph,
copyright belongs to the museum because it was a "work for hire."  If
the photographer took it on his/her own, copyright belongs to the artist
for his/her lifetime plus 50 years, and if the museum wants to use that
image for posters/photos etc. it must negotiate with the photographer.

However, I just read in the NYT that some buildings, i.e. the Chrysler
Building, are trademarked and that one, even an artist, may not publicly
present an image of that building without permission from the building's
owners regardless of whether or not the image was original to the artist
(i.e. a drawing as opposed to a photograph).  This would include selling
postcards, posters etc. The photographer should check to see if this is
the case on the building in question.  Trademark differs from copyright
in that a trademark lasts forever, whereas copyrights have time limits
after which the image becomes public domain and anyone can use it.

The U.S. Copyright Office has a very good website that explains
copyrights and trademarks in easy-to-understand language.

Julia Moore
Indianapolis Art Center