My understanding of copyright law is that it is the "creation" of a work rather than the "creativity" that is the issue. So the act of snapping the camera shutter and in getting either a digital or physical product from that suffices for copyright purposes - whether the photo is of anything, is in focus, or has proper exposure, are all irrelavent. At least in the USA. It is an entirely different issue whether such an activity could be considered a "work for hire" where the rights transfer to the employer - such rights are usually spelled out in some detail in this sort of arrangement. As far as the query about a researcher taking photographs and then publishing them at a later date - that is trickier. The photographer created the images and is therefore the "creator" and owner of those images. However, if a person is depicted, or a specific object (property) that is not on public display at the time, is used, without having gained releases from the person(s) or the owner of the objects, I would think that the photographer could be held liable for their publication without permission. It is usually best to have policies and guidelines for researchers that are presented and signed on before access is given to either documents or objects in a cultural or arts repository - it is just common sense. An even tricker question happens with Loan objects. Do most loan agreeements convey releases and permissions and rights to the use of images by the borrower? Are these rights limited or are all rights conveyed so that all the profits from the use of that image belong to the borrower? What if visual rights are not included in a loan agreement and an owner disagrees with the use of an image of their property? Cheers! Dave David Harvey Artifacts 2930S South Birch Street Denver, CO 80222 303-300-5257 [log in to unmask] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).