John,
I think the wording of your policy opens
you up to those gray areas. In my understanding the photographer owns
copyright since he created the image,
so he can do anything he would like with it. If you had a signed
agreement with him before he took the photo it’d be a different story.
Is your policy printed on anything that might be seen as a contract, such as an admission ticket that he purchased?
I think the best approach is not to create hard feelings,
especially if you don’t have a solid legal basis. Look for the benefit
to the museum, such as asking him to
identify your site so you can get some publicity.
Kris Zickuhr
Registrar
Wisconsin Veterans Museum
From: Museum discussion list
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of John Hart
Sent: Tuesday, April 14,
2009 8:56 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Query About
Photographs Taken On-Site
I am looking for a bit of advice. We’ve been
approached by a previous visitor about entering an image that he took of our
blacksmith at the forge during his visit,
into a photo competition. If he wins,
he states “the sponsors will have the right to publish this image for any
purpose.”
The Farmers’ Museum does have the following policy listed
on its website, under the
Hours/Admissions page: “Photography
and videography are permitted in the museum buildings and on the
museum grounds for non-commercial use only.”
I do not want to go so far as saying that we
“own” the rights to this gentleman’s image, however,
since he’s now venturing into uncharted territories for us, I am not sure how to proceed. Tell him to go ahead, but TFM must be credited in all publications, tell him no because it will be used for commercial
purposes (at least it sounds like it),
etc.
Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
Assistant Curator of Collections
Interim Rights and Reproduction/Photo Sales Handler
New York State Historical Association