We found a match
Your institution may have access to this item. Find your institution then sign in to continue.
- Title
RECLAIMING OUR DOMAIN: DIGITIZATION OF MUSEUM COLLECTIONS AND COPYRIGHT OVERREACH.
- Authors
GARVIN, KAITLYN M.
- Abstract
The public domain is a communal resource that benefits all society. Anyone should be able to use works within it without fear of infringing a copyright, patent, or trademark. Recently, however, there has been debate over museums overreaching their rights by claiming copyrights to photographic reproductions of famous works within the public domain. They effectively reach back into the public domain and reclaim images that society, not individual entities, should control. The court in Bridgeman Art Library, LTD. v. Corel Corp. attempted to limit this behavior, holding that museums cannot claim rights to photographic reproductions due to lack of originality. Yet museums have largely ignored the intent of this case, instead opting to contract around copyrights through website terms and services. As museums move towards digitization of collections, this issue is only complicated further. As museums' physical control over objects becomes less relevant, they push back against copyright law to protect what they see as their rightful property. This behavior only harms the public domain and undermines the very purpose of copyright law: to reward and protect creative endeavors. This note will examine the current state of the law as it applies to photographic reproductions of famous artworks and why a tension exists between the copyright doctrine of originality and the medium of photography. From there, it will discuss museum copyright overreach and the implications of collection digitization, concluding with potential solutions to the overreach.
- Subjects
TRADEMARK lawsuits; BRIDGEMAN Art Library Ltd.; COREL Corp.
- Publication
IDEA: The Intellectual Property Law Review, 2019, Vol 59, Issue 2, p455
- ISSN
0019-1272
- Publication type
Article