Just to nitpick, a Creative Commons license is an assertion of copyright. That
is, it grants permission based on the assumption / fact / assertion that the
work is protected by copyright. For example, the "attribution, non-commercial,
share alike" license asserts that the creator/copyright holder must be
credited, it is limited to non-commercial uses based on the creator/copyright
holder's exclusive rights, and on the same basis the creator/copyright holder
can insist that the end user grant the same license on the new works he creates.
(Virginia: jump in here before I bury myself any deeper.)
.
There is, however, now a CC0 ('CC Zero') license that is "may be used by
anyone wishing to permanently surrender the copyright and database rights they
may have in a work, thereby placing it as nearly as possible into the public
domain" which speaks to what you're suggesting. I wonder, however, if choosing
this option would be a good business decision for a museum or even a matter of
public responsibility. I'm not saying it isn't -- I'm just wondering.
Amalyah
________________________________________
?????: ??mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] ??? Kenneth Hamma
[khamma at me.com]
??????: ????? ????? 06 ??? 2009 19:10
????: Museum Computer Network Listserv
??????: Re: [MCN-L] Re image 'theft'
The argument that I made was not intended to be based on a strict
interpretation of copyright law but on public responsibility. So,
with respect to my note, most of this is beside the point and a
restatement of traditional argument.
I should have been clearer in my assertion of the business decision.
The notion of copyright is indeed a legal matter. Whether or not to
assert copyright (not merely how much to charge) is, however, a
business decision as there are numerous alternative courses for the
creator. Among these are a variety of Creative Commons licensing
schemes to a complete waiver of copyright.
ken
Kenneth Hamma
+1 310 270 8008
khamma at me.com
368 Patel Place
Palm Springs CA 92264
On May 6, 2009, at 3:40 AM, Amalyah Keshet [akeshet at imj.org.il] wrote:
> Just to stir the pot a bit:
>
> Not every museum or archive is a "public charity." Even if that is
> a particular museum's legal status, it doesn't affect the legal
> application of copyright protection to any photographs it produces.
>
> The assertion of copyright in photographs (including "visual
> surrogates") is indeed a legal matter. It is a business decision
> whether or not to charge money for licensing these images. There is
> a clear legal distinction between the photograph as a protectable
> creation and the underlying object / work / subject that appears in
> that photograph.
>
> As to "theft," yes it does happen, and yes it obviously and
> logically results in a loss of potential income. The question is,
> how much, and does it matter in the end. And the size of the image
> certainly doesn't matter. A small 72dpi image can be lifted and
> used in advertising on a commercial website with no effort,
> resulting in a loss of significant potential licensing income. This
> is simple logic. And in this particular example, it's legally
> simple: it's copyright infringement, not "sharing." "There is no
> business model in stealing images" -- of course there is; I've run
> into several, um, publishing establishments based on that business
> model.
>
> The interesting issues are in the less blatant examples -- real
> digital sharing, not commercial rip-off. How do we deal with that?
> Because we're not going to get anywhere by calling normative digital
> activity, including sharing, "theft." And some of our institutions
> really do (sorry, Ken) depend on income from image licensing, among
> other sources, to stay alive. We need new business models. We need
> to figure out how to be Google: how to not produce a product, not
> to offer anything more than thin air (a platform, access, ranking,
> ones-and-zeros) and yet to make billions, become the source of all
> knowledge, and take over the world.
>
>
> Amalyah Keshet
> Head of Image Resources & Copyright Management
> The Israel Museum, Jerusalem
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf
> Of Kenneth Hamma
> Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 10:40 PM
> To: Museum Computer Network Listserv
> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Re image 'theft'
>
> Regardless the size of the imagined revenue loss, the notion of
> 'theft' may not be entirely appropriate here, speaking only of
> payment for IP licensing not payment for services or product.
> Remember that the institutions mentioned so far operate as public
> charities - receiving a tax benefit but also encumbered with certain
> public- benefit responsibilities as a result. And leaving aside
> works still under copyright, for which we all have well known
> obligations, as well as works that maintain vital roles in the
> communities in which they were created, these collections consist of
> natural specimens or creative works now in the public domain. Who
> in this scenario would be thieving from whom?
>
> For these works, the assertion of copyright in visual surrogates and
> metadata is not a legal decision (so don't start with lawyers) but a
> business decision that has on more than one occasion been described
> purely as an effort to maintain monopoly control. Is it possible to
> square this with public charities managing public domain collections?
>
> ken
>
>
> Kenneth Hamma
>
> +1 310 270 8008
> khamma at me.com
>
> 368 Patel Place
> Palm Springs CA 92264
>
> On May 5, 2009, at 12:59 PM, Proctor, Nancy wrote:
>
>> Thanks to Matt Morgan for raising the question of who has actually
>> lost revenues from putting images, even high quality ones, online. I
>> share his skepticism that it's actually as big a problem as we
>> fear. I
>> suspect that it will take less effort and fewer resources to deal
>> with
>> the small number of thefts that will arise than all the wringing of
>> hands and hiring of lawyers for pre-emptive action that we currently
>> engage in.
>>
>> We're discussing business models for the Smithsonian at the moment,
>> so
>> I added Matt's comments at this link:
>>
>> http://smithsonian-webstrategy.wikispaces.com/message/view/Business
>> +Mo
>> dels+W
>> orkshop+Real-Time+Notes/11773461
>>
>> This is a public wiki, so you're all welcome to participate in the
>> conversation!
>>
>> Nancy
>>
>> Nancy Proctor
>> Head of New Media Initiatives
>> Smithsonian American Art Museum
>> MRC 970 PO Box 37012
>> Washington DC 20013-7012
>> USA
>>
>> t: +1-202-633-8439
>> c: +1-301-642-6257
>> f: +1-202-633-8455
>>
>> http://www.americanart.si.edu
>> http://eyelevel.si.edu/
>>
>> On 5/5/09 3:00 PM, "mcn-l-request at mcn.edu" <mcn-l-request at mcn.edu>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu on behalf of Eric Johnson
>>> Sent: Tue 5/5/2009 11:55 AM
>>> To: Museum Computer Network Listserv
>>> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image sizes
>>>
>>> Matt raises an interesting point: has anybody ever had any problems
>>> with people "lifting" high-quality images of your collection without
>>> seeking permission and making money with them (posters, t-shirts,
>>> etc.)?
>>>
>>> The only thing I can think of off-hand is more in the vein of taking
>>> print-quality images and using them in books without permission.
>>> But
>>> then again, I'm not familiar with any example of that actually
>>> happening; it's just a worry passed down from higher-ups.
>>>
>>> But I'm curious about any specific examples of such unauthorized
>>> reproduction that anybody might have.
>>>
>>> --E.
>>>
>>> Eric D. M. Johnson
>>> Web Services Librarian
>>> Jefferson Library, Monticello
>>> P.O. Box 316
>>> Charlottesville, VA 22902
>>> Phone: (434) 984-7540 | Fax: (434) 984-7546
>>> http://www.monticello.org/library/
>>> ejohnson at monticello.org
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Morgan, Matt [mailto:matt.morgan at metmuseum.org]
>>> Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 11:44 AM
>>> To: Museum Computer Network Listserv
>>> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] image sizes
>>>
>>> I get it, definitely. There are lots of things we should be doing,
>>> but don't, purely for least-cost path analysis. But it's raining
>>> like
>>> crazy here so it's a good day to sit in my office and rant about one
>>> of my bugbears a little bit.
>>>
>>> We (the museum community) have hardly ever (never?) seen a
>>> significant, commercial, inappropriate, reuse of museum object
>>> images. It just isn't done--there is no business model in stealing
>>> images. Getting images of more than 1000px (from Flickr, for
>>> example)
>>> of our objects is a trivial matter, so it cannot be that increasing
>>> image sizes on our own websites will make this problem materialize.
>>>
>>> I am utterly, totally sympathetic to the political problems we all
>>> face.
>>> I just think it's time to get over this image-size thing and start
>>> letting people enjoy our images instead of squinting at them or
>>> blowing them up until they're fuzzy.
>>>
>>> Thanks,
>>> Matt
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
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