Hello and happy 2004!
I am looking for suggestions from any of you who may have advice on how we
should deal with an individual who has posted approximately 450
unauthorized images of our museum and our collection on his website. (Many
of them were taken during public celebrations at the time of the grand
opening of our new building 9 months ago.)
We have asked the individual to remove the images immediately as we believe
that he has commited copyright and trademark violations by posting the
images and offering them for sale. In addition to photographs of
individual objects in the permanent collection galleries, the museum's logo
(trademark in progress) is prominent in some of the photographs. We have
directed the individual to the photography policy posted on our website
which states, "Photographs taken in the museum may not be sold, reproduced
or distributed without written permission from the Museum."
After receiving our written request to remove our museum's images from his
website, this individual wrote back:
"Thank you for telling me. Please note that none of the photos are for
sale, and it is illegal and unprofessional thing to do. The ones for sale
are the one you need to click on 'buy your photos' which are usually done
for specific client requests. All the photos are for viewing only. None are
being used as otherwise. I treat it like a new-photo event. None of the
photos have enough resolution to print out as a photograph."
My Photo Services Coordinator and I are debating what to do next. Any
suggestions? It seems to us that posting museum images on a website
without permission is akin to reproducing them without permission.
Something else that is worrisome is that there is some peculiar content,
including some explicit religious content, on this individual's website
with which our museum does not wish to be associated.
We're stuck on how best to respond. Should we handle this ourselves or is
it time for us to get an attorney involved?
Your thoughts are most appreciated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Nancy Kirkpatrick, Director of Museum Services
Asian Art Museum
200 Larkin Street, San Francisco CA, USA 94102
tel: 415-581-3671 fax: 415-581-4715
e-mail: [email protected]
website: www.asianart.org
---
You are currently subscribed to mcn_mcn-l as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to
[email protected]
