We treat objects where we've confirmed the copyright status and rights statement (i.e. acquired a license) differently from those where we're assuming that the works may be protected by copyright and we'll eventually be tracking down the artist.
The first has a detailed copyright statement: (c) Joan C. Artist The second, a boilerplate statement: (c) artist or artist's estate ...that's exactly as written, without an actual name inserted (it took some doing to get this across to the web programming folks!) The pop up rights explanation has all the "mays," "mights" and "we don't warrants" to let people know that this is not a legal opinion. Yes, some of the latter works may indeed be in the public domain, but the reality is that we'll never have the time to research status on all of them and even if we do, the next person who wants to use the image is going to have to confirm our research themselves, since our determination could be challenged. I think this is better than leaving it blank -- we may not have the final answer, but if we indicate "could be in copyright" or "no known copyright restrictions," it's going to give the website visitor a clue or starting place. The project I worked on last week -- helped by several folks on this list -- took a solid day's work to gather all the information we needed to satisfy ourselves that the work was in the public domain...or "no known copyright restrictions," to play it safe. For one work among thousands. How many of those can we do a year? Honestly, it's easier to find a contact person and simply ask for a license, which is mostly what we do when we can. Deb Wythe Brooklyn Museum deborahwythe at hotmail.com > From: evesinaiko at earthlink.net > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Date: Tue, 11 May 2010 15:59:44 -0400 > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] IP SIG - orphan works question > > > Amalyah Keshet > > > > I agree entirely with Peter, who has answered this question far more > elegantly than I could. > > > > We never think twice about using the phrase "(c) the artist" as a default, > if that's the only > > information or best guess we have, or if the artist or copyright owner > doesn't answer our > > enquiries. > > Amalyah (and others): When you put the phrase "(c) the artist" on an artwork > image, without having confirmed that the artist did indeed retain the > copyright, do you note (as Peter suggests) that this is a presumed > copyright? In publishing, the practice in such instances is usually to be > silent, rather than commit to print a copyright assertion that may be > erroneous. > > I like the idea of publishing a "presumed or probable copyright." It gives > the reader some guidance without absolutely confirming what may not be > correct. I'm thinking here of the confusions that arise when an artist's > estate has more than one heir, and with the copyright for a particular work > being gifted or assigned. The latter didn't happen too often in the past, > but it did arise occasionally and seems to be getting more common. > > In print publishing, it has usually been the practice not to add a "(c) the > artist" notice unless the artist or estate has requested one in writing. I > think publishers would be very leery of adding copyright notices unless a > rights holder told them to do so, but in omitting that information, they are > probably contributing to the general confusion. I know of no practical > guidelines for publishers on this... > > Regards, > Eve Sinaiko > New York > > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ _________________________________________________________________ Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from your inbox. http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1
