Thank you David and Randy,

Your backgrounds and provided information are most helpful.  Do you know if there is a language I can use in a contract for "sharing copyright"  with the artist we commissioned?  I am not trying to steal any rights from the artist and want her to be able to use images or copies of the work for whatever she wants but  my priority is protecting the museum.  We already have plans on featuring the commissioned work in a music video we are producing and I know we will eventually include the work(s) in catalogs for the part of our collection the works are referencing.  I would like to not have to "ask for permission" to every time we decide to use the work in another fashion.

Leonard

On Tue, Oct 11, 2016 at 5:34 PM, topladave . <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Randy is correct.

In the USA you only guarantee ownership of copyright for commissioned work-for-hire if there is an explicit section in your contract with the artist or photographer or other contractee in the contract. Otherwise you are possibly looking at a court case. Ownership of an artwork or an object does not mean you the donor or you own the copyright. Copyright belongs the the creator(s) of the work unless the copyright has been legally transferred or until the term of the copyright has expired. In the USA that is the life of the creator(s) plus 70 years (there are a few exceptions to that pre-1972). So transferring copyright or all rights in a deed of gift means nothing unless the donor either is the creator, owns the copyright as an heir, or they have legally had the copyright transferred to them.

I teach an online course on "Copyright and Intellectual Property 101 for Museums" that covers this in depth.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Senior Conservator & Museum Consultant
Los Angeles CA USA
www.cityofangelsconservation.weebly.com


On Oct 11, 2016 3:03 PM, "Randy Little" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
This is just not true. Commissioned works DO NOT MEAN work for hire unless the contract STATES work for hire.  I am commissioned to do work all the time that I retain the copyright on.  


On Tue, Oct 11, 2016 at 5:17 PM, William Shepherd <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello Leonard,

 

                Maybe the laws are a bit different south of the border but your institution would already have ownership and any associated copyright since you commissioned the artist to do the work; however, you mention a contact. Depending on the wording of the contract this could change the ‘automatic terms’ of commissioning a work. If a Deed of Gift or transfer of ownership of some kind is needed based on the terms of the contract then you could use your regular paperwork but I would specify that it is going into the study collection versus the permanent collection if you don’t indicate this somewhere on the paperwork already. In the future I wouldn’t include the need for a transfer of ownership in a contract when commissioning an artist unless it is needed for US federal/state law as the contract with the artist should deal with this.

 

Your deed of gift may already include transferring any associated copyright as part of the transfer of ownership. If it doesn’t I would include it in the future. In Canada we also have moral rights, likely you have something similar, these cannot be transferred, only waived. I would include this in your terms of the deed of gift as well so the artist cannot cause problems in the use of the works down the road. Depending on the law down there commissioning a work would already transfer copyright to you unless the contract states otherwise so you may already be covered in this part but the deed of gift should cover it as well.

 

Hopefully this helps!

 

William Shepherd

Collections Officer

Swift Current Museum

44 Robert Street West

Swift Current, Saskatchewan

S9H 4M9

Phone: 306-778-4815

Fax: 306-778-4818

 

From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]FT.COM] On Behalf Of leonard cicero
Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2016 10:11 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [MUSEUM-L] Paperwork need for a commissioned work

 

Hi All,

 

I have been tasked with creating a Deed of Gift for a couple of hand painted (replica) signs that my institution commissioned from an artist.  The contract with said artist states that a deed of gift will be sent after receipt of the works. The works will likely be added to our study collection but not our permanent collection.  

 

My question to you is: Is a Deed of Gift the correct paperwork?  If not, what is?  Also, do I need the consigned artist to sign a transfer of Copyright?  

 

Thanks in advance,

 

Leonard M. Cicero

 

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