Richard, that is a great question. Nothing leaps to mind. The excellent new book Rights & Reproductions: The Handbook for Cultural Institutions (https://aam-us.org/ProductCatalog/Product?ID=5186) discusses how difficult it can be to determine publication status (and how important as well), but doesn't provide a lot of guidance on how to do it. Perhaps the best thing to read to get caught up is Deborah Gerhardt's article, "Copyright at the Museum: Using the Publication Doctrine to Free Art and History" (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2505041). Gerhardt's article is more about libraries and archives than museums, and it is particularly focused on whether the gift of a work to a public repository "published" it. Nevertheless, her summary of her earlier empirical study on publication in the courts highlights how they are no bright lines.
That is good news for a work that is by an artist who died before 1946. Gerhardt's analysis suggests that chances are good that many pre-1978 works were "published" in in a way that injected them into the public domain. If the works are truly unpublished, they would have entered the public domain on 1 January of this year. The biggest risk would be with American works that were registered for copyright (and subsequently had their copyrights renewed) or with non-American works that are deemed to have been published and thus received a 95 year copyright term, regardless of the death date of the author. Peter Hirtle -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Rich Cherry Sent: Monday, January 04, 2016 3:53 PM To: Museum Computer Network Listserv Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Public Domain Day 2016 Peter, Its been quite a while since I thought about the definition of "publishing of an artwork".. has there been any case law updates that refine the definition? Rich On Mon, Jan 4, 2016 at 9:21 AM, Peter B. Hirtle <[email protected]> wrote: > Remember that only unpublished works by authors who died in 1945 > entered the public domain in the US this year. Published works may > still be protected by copyright. Determining the publication and > public domain status of a museum object is difficult and must be > calculated on an item-by-item basis. > > Peter B. Hirtle, FSAA > Affiliate Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard > University [email protected] [email protected] > [email protected] > http://vivo.cornell.edu/display/individual23436 > Copyright and Cultural Institutions: Guidelines for Digitization for U.S. > Libraries, Archives, and Museums: > http://hdl.handle.net/1813/14142 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf > Of Diane Zorich > Sent: Monday, January 04, 2016 11:35 AM > To: Museum Computer Network Listserv <[email protected]> > Subject: [MCN-L] FW: Public Domain Day 2016 > > Public Domain Day, folks! > > (I love Heidi's excitement at "flipping the rights status" and would > like to suggest that museums who do this might want to announce it > more publicly via their social media outlets - when the occasion > warrants it, of course.) > > -Diane > > From: Visual Resources Association <[email protected]> on > behalf of Heidi Raatz <[email protected]> > Reply-To: Visual Resources Association <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, January 4, 2016 10:46 AM > To: <[email protected]> > Subject: Public Domain Day 2016 > > Happy Public Domain Day! Here's your graduating class of 2016: > > http://publicdomainreview.org/collections/class-of-2016/ > < > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__publicdomainreview > .org_ > > collections_class-2Dof-2D2016_&d=BQMFaQ&c=JL-fUnQvtjNLb7dA39cQUcqmjBVI > TE8MbO > > dX7Lx6ge8&r=a9UTc_1dkRcFJvGH4QJ61zK_g8diw8hHBvEtyREkAAY&m=zeR-5SqZqgDH > LYhzk_ > Xe7BbbewxjAvQqb5CkOrAs6kg&s=4b_xmoxHVXI6Sq6h6Tpbk732pGRYwJQiVsG6rFizm7 > o&e= > > > > Quite possibly my favorite task of each new year is flipping the > rights status for objects in our museum permanent collection from > Copyright Protected to Public Domain. Watch our collections website < > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__collections.artsmi > a.org > > _&d=BQMFaQ&c=JL-fUnQvtjNLb7dA39cQUcqmjBVITE8MbOdX7Lx6ge8&r=a9UTc_1dkRc > FJvGH4 > > QJ61zK_g8diw8hHBvEtyREkAAY&m=zeR-5SqZqgDHLYhzk_Xe7BbbewxjAvQqb5CkOrAs6 > kg&s=S uOd_1NpB8v88g8LunNeNd7lSoY3UfsaAg7n6hAh9AU&e=> for new biggie > images to download in the next few days after the data determining > their statuses refreshes. > > All best, > Heidi > > > -- > Heidi S. Raatz, MLIS > Visual Resources Librarian | Permissions Officer Minneapolis Institute > of Art > 2400 Third Avenue South > Minneapolis, MN 55404 > > 612.870.3196 | [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> | > www.artsmia.org < > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.artsmia.org_&d > =BQMF > > aQ&c=JL-fUnQvtjNLb7dA39cQUcqmjBVITE8MbOdX7Lx6ge8&r=a9UTc_1dkRcFJvGH4QJ > 61zK_g > > 8diw8hHBvEtyREkAAY&m=zeR-5SqZqgDHLYhzk_Xe7BbbewxjAvQqb5CkOrAs6kg&s=b3z > 1QZToC hxKQ3wSldM8jtqibm7143rsbcehNrG3pmQ&e=> | VisRes Request Form > [internal use] < > https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ow.ly_43q4p&d=BQMF > aQ&c= > > JL-fUnQvtjNLb7dA39cQUcqmjBVITE8MbOdX7Lx6ge8&r=a9UTc_1dkRcFJvGH4QJ61zK_ > g8diw8 > > hHBvEtyREkAAY&m=zeR-5SqZqgDHLYhzk_Xe7BbbewxjAvQqb5CkOrAs6kg&s=Vw72ARZX > _eiyKY > 8nPBehFPcFlHN9IQDmUC9g9LcX8Ww&e=> > > > > > > > > ____________________________________________ > Sent via the listserv of the Visual Resources Association: > http://www.vraweb.org/. Join VRA or subscribe: > http://vraweb.org/membership/join/. Unsubscribe, search the archive, > or customize your subscription: http://vraweb.org/membership/vral/. > Questions regarding subscriptions or VRA membership: [email protected]. > ____________________________________________ > > > _______________________________________________ > 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: [email protected] > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > _______________________________________________ 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: [email protected] To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://mcn.edu/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
