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Photographs of Public Domain works

By William Patry

Tonight in Manhattan, I am participating in a program that raises thorny issues of the scope of copyright in photographs of public domain works of art: are such photographs protectible, and if so under what circumstances and under what theories of copyright? What are the consequences for the publication of art books and journals? Here is the program:

Who Owns This Image?

Art, Access, and the Public Domain after Bridgeman v. Corel

Public Panel Discussion

Cosponsored by

Art Law Committee, New York City Bar Association

College Art Association

ARTstor

Creative Commons

Panelists:

Dr. Theodore Feder, President, Art Resource, Artists Rights Society

Honorable Lewis Kaplan, United States District Judge SDNY

Honorable Pierre Leval, United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit

Christopher Lyon, Executive Editor, Prestel Publishing

William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel, Google

Maureen Whalen, Associate General Counsel, J. Paul Getty Trust

Moderator:

Virginia Rutledge, Chair, Art Law Committee, New York City Bar Association,

Vice President and General Counsel Creative Commons

Who owns the Mona Lisa? In Bridgeman Art Library Ltd. v. Corel

Corp. (S.D.N.Y. 1999), Judge Lewis A. Kaplan ruled that exact photographic copies of two-dimensional public domain works of art are not copyrightable under U.S. law, because such images are not original. Yet nearly a decade after that decision, copyright in many such images continues to be asserted.

This program addresses questions currently debated across the worlds of art, publishing, and the law:

Should access to public domain artworks control uses of images of those works? When and how should custodians of public domain artworks exercise control over reproductions of them? How does contract intersect with copyright in the control of image uses? Does the image permissions hurdle play a role in the decline of art publishing, or are the complaints of critics overwrought? What is the nature of the public domain with respect to works of art?

When:

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

6:30 ? 8:00 pm

Where:

New York City Bar Association

42 W. 44th Street, New York City

The Great Hall

This program is free and open to the public; no reservation required. Seating is limited.

Full post as published by The Patry Copyright Blog on April 29, 2008 (boomark / email).