Kate: If an image is a protected (copyrighted) work, it doesn't matter what size or format it's in. It's protected, and the copyright holder has the exclusive right to reproduce and distribute it and to make derivatives of it. (Thumbnail images for purposes of identification, for example in a database or search engine, would be the possible exception.)
However, that doesn't mean one cannot make an institutional policy decision to treat different formats and sizes differently in terms of how you distribute, license, or give away image files for various purposes. This follows from the above. Amalyah Keshet Chair, MCN IP SIG Amalyah Keshet Head of Image Resources and Tel. +972-2-6708064 Fax +972-2-6771340 akeshet at imj.org.il The Israel Museum, Jerusalem -----Original Message----- From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-boun...@mcn.edu] On Behalf Of Kate Blanch Sent: 12 March, 2014 4:58 PM To: 'mcn-l at mcn.edu' Subject: [MCN-L] Different Copyrights / Different Image Resolutions Hello MCN, This may be a rather dense question regarding copyright law...but as it's outside my area of expertise I figured this community could provide a great reference point. My own research is not turning up an good answers/examples either! Do any institutions assign different copyright statements to derivatives of the same image, depending on that image's resolution? Take for example, a photo of a Greek urn in a museum collection. Would it be common practice for a high-resolution TIFF of this photo to bear a "(c)Museum Institution, 2014" statement, while a medium-resolution JPG of the same photo would bear a "(c) Creative Commons License"? Does this scenario fit within basic copyright law or guidelines? If anyone is differentiating copyright statements based on image resolution, do you have this policy written/documented in a shareable way? Thanks for any feedback you might have! Kate Blanch Administrator, Museum Databases kblanch at thewalters.org / 410.547.9000 ext. 266 The Walters Art Museum 600 N. Charles Street, Baltimore MD 21201 www.thewalters.org<http://www.thewalters.org/>
