Archives, Collections and Resources Demonstrated by Macie Hall at
April 95 NII Meetings.
http://www.oberlin.edu/~art/vra/macie.html
Macie Hall has been the VRA (see below under Copyright - Intellectual
Property Rights - Fair Use) representative to the Conference on Fair Use
(CONFU) meetings. This document provides links to sites that illustrate
points about the variety of ways that images and artwork are being used on
the Web. In several cases references are made to copyright notices and/or
disclaimers.
ArtNet.
http://www.artnet.com
This is the home page for a commercial service that sets up Web displays
for artists and galleries. They also provide access to auction
information and art market analysis. Some of their services are still in
development; their database services require that the user be a subscriber.
Barlow, John Perry. "The Economy of Ideas: A framework for rethinking
patents and copyrights in the Digital Age (Everything you know about
intellectual property is wrong)." Wired 2.03 (March 1994).
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.03/economy.ideas.html
A philosophical treatise on ideas and how we should deal with them in the
current digital age. This work is widely quoted.
Brinson, J. Dianne and Mark F. Radcliffe. Intellectual Property
Law Primer for Multimedia Developers.
http://www.eff.org/pub/CAF/law/ip-primer
Written by the lawyers who authored the Multimedia Law Handbook,
this provides an overview of the materials found in that book. It
summarizes copyright, patent, and trademark laws and explains how they
affect the creation of multimedia works.
Copyright Act of 1976, as Amended (1994).
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/
This is the full text of the law, which is provided by the Legal
Information Institute of the Cornell Law School. The site has text search
capabilities.
Copyright Information Page.
http://www.lib.umich.edu/libhome/copyright/
Produced by the University of Michigan, this home page provides links to
the text of the U.S. copyright law, other copyright Web sites, articles
that can help determine whether or not permission needs to be requested
when using a resource, how to request permission, how to register a work
for copyright, and sources for public domain and royalty-free materials.
Copyright - Intellectual Property Rights - Fair Use.
http://www.oberlin.edu/~art/vra/copyright.html
This page is produced by the Visual Resources Association (VRA), the
international organization for slide librarians and other visual
resources curators. It provides links to a number of documents,
including reports by the VRA representatives to the Conference on Fair Use
(CONFU) meetings.
The Copyright Website.
http://www.benedict.com/homepage.htm
This is the most extensive copyright information site that we found. It
provides hot links to copyright fundamentals, copyright registration,
famous copyright infringements, bleeding edge internet issues, fair use,
public domain materials, and other documents on copyright. The only part
that is specific to art is under copyright infringements, where reference
is made to two recent court cases involving copyright. One is about a
sculpture used in the film Batman Forever and the other involves
artist Robert Rauschenberg.
Corbis.
http://www.corbis.com
This is the website for the other Bill Gates company. It includes around
3000 images from the huge archive of digital images that the company is
compiling. Note that when you first try to access the images you are
immediately given the option of agreeing or disagreeing with their request
that material on their site only be used for personal, non-commercial
purposes. If you disagree, you are given a copyright and intellectual
property FAQ document; you must agree in order to see any images.
Digital Future Coalition.
http://www.dfc.org/
This coalition of at least 27 different organizations was just founded in
September 1995 to encourage a sensible approach to legislation that will
affect digital copyright. In particular, they are trying to counteract
the NII White Paper's nearly complete negation of fair use. The site
contains updates on legislation stemming from the White Paper, information
on the member organizations (including links, where they exist),
statements and press releases, and other useful information.
Harper, Georgia. Copyright and Image Management.
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/image.htm
A site produced by one of the lawyers in the Office of General
Counsel for the University of Texas System. It addresses a number of the
issues related to image collections. A related site is the more general
"Crash Course in Copyright" page at
http://www.utsystem.edu/OGC/IntellectualProperty/cprtindx.htm.
Intellectual Property: An Association of Research Libraries
Statement of Principles.
http://arl.cni.org/scomm/copyright/principles.html
A brief statement and list of seven principles, with annotations, that was
adopted by the ARL membership in May 1994. It is meant to affirm "the
rights and responsibilities of the research library community in the area
of copyright."
Intellectual Property and the National Information Infrastructure:
The Report of the Working Group on Intellectual Property Rights.
http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/com/doc/ipnii/
The home page for the NII White Paper, the document that makes
recommendations for copyright law changes that will affect use of a
variety of materials on the Web. The home page provides links to the
document itself, an executive summary, and statements by Bruce Lehman, the
chair of the working group.
Lutzker, Arnold P., Esq. Commerce Department's White Paper on
National and Global Information Infrastructure: Executive Summary for the
Library and Educational Community.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/ARL/analysis.html
A summary of the NII White Paper, which was requested by the Association
of Research Libraries, the American Library Association, the American
Association of Law Libraries, the Medical Library Association, and the
Special Libraries Association. Lutzker has provided commentary and
analysis on each major section of the White Paper.
McLaughlin, Margaret L. "The Art Site on the World Wide Web."
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication 1(4).
http://cwis.usc.edu/dept/annenberg/artfinal.html
A lengthy article that reports on a study of art galleries on Web. The
author, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at USC,
provides statistics and analyzes the development and current state of
galleries. She also has an extensive (72 references) bibliography.
Fair Use Guidelines for Educational Multimedia and Related Documents
and Links.
http://www.libraries.psu.edu/mtss/fairuse/default.html
Contains basic information on the current attempt to develop multimedia
fair use guidelines.
Samuelson, Pamela. "The Copyright Grab." Wired 4.01
(January 1996).
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/4.01/white.paper_pr.html
An excellent analysis of the NII White Paper and how its recommendations
promote commercial interests on the Web while restricting fair use of
digital materials to the point of virtual non-existence. Ms. Samuelson
is a visiting professor of law at Cornell Law School and a Fellow of the
Electronic Frontier Foundation. She also includes information on how to
get involved in the debate about the NII White Paper.
10 Big Myths about copyright explained.
http://www.clari.net/brad/copymyths.html
This page is written by an electronic publisher, so there are some biases
in favor of publishers. But, it still provides some good basic answers
to commonly asked questions related to copyright, fair use, and public
domain materials.
Atkins, Robert. "The Art World & I Go On Line." Art in
America 83(12) (December 1995): 58-65+
In the format of a personal journal, Atkins describes his initiation into
cyberspace while bringing to light the various manifestations that
electronic media has engendered in the world of artists, museums,
galleries, and audiences. Noting both the successes as well as the
failures, the author links this embrace of the internet with the current
ascendancy of conceptualist and neoconceptualist approaches to art.
Crews, Kenneth D. Copyright, Fair Use and the Challenge for
Universities. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1990.
Written from the perspective of an educator, the author sets out to
provide a complete overview of the tensions existing between copyright
regulation and the concept of fair use as it applies to institutions of
higher education. While not an instruction manual in the application or
definition of fair use, Crews' study serves to present the complexities
of his subject in an objective manner. His final chapter, "Building for
the Future," is a call to arms for those in higher education to play a
more definitive and active role in shaping fair use guidelines that can
extend to technological advances.
Hodder, Ian. "Art, Computers and Copyrights." Artifact
November/December 1995: 35-6. [Magazine was published in Kent,
WA, from 1995-1997. The University of Washington Libraries owns
copies.]
Current copyright issues, as affected by digital reproductions and
electronic distribution, are addressed through varying perspectives: an
artist, a gallery owner, and an artist representative. While current
technology does not worry these players (due to low-grade resolution),
advances made in reproduction quality will change the field. Copyright
infringement through electronic media remains difficult to police.
Jensen, Timothy S., Esq. VLA Guide to Copyright for Visual
Artists. New York: Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, 1987.
Published by a not-for-profit organization that provides free legal
assistance and legal education to the arts community, this guide focuses
on the essential point of copyright regulation in a question-and-answer
format. Forms for registering for copyright with the U.S. Copyright
Office are included.
Kerber, Ross. "Vigilant Copyright Holders Patrol the Internet."
Wall Street Journal December 13, 1995: B1,6.
While copyright infringement is difficult to detect and trace on the
Internet, several instances (some resulting in litigation) are examined
in this article. From images of Elvis to A.A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh,
unauthorized use and reproduction of visual imagery on the Web is
beginning to garner attention from publishers and other rights holders.
At stake in a majority of these cases is lost revenue. Publishers are
especially concerened about the alterability of digitized information,
making it dificult for users to assess the authenticity of material found
on the Internet.
Lawrence, John and Bernard Timberg, editors. Fair Use and Free
Inquiry: Copyright Law and the New Media. New Jersey: Ablex
Publishing Corporation, 1989.
The contributors to this collection of essays explore the issues
surrounding the "new" mass media and their uses in teaching and published
scholarship. Fair use and its application serve as a point of departure
in each essay, investigating a variety of forms (film, music, advertising,
broadcasting, and visual images) in which copyright regulation applies.
"Copyright Law and the Fair Use of Visual Images" by Harriet Oler and
Marilyn Kretsinger is especially helpful as an introduction to the 1976
Copyright Law, including its underlying philosophy and history. Another
essay, "A Modernized Fair Use Code for Visual, Auditory, and Audiovisual
Copyrights...", by Sigmund Timberg critiques the problems of a literary
based copyright law being applied to visual materials. The author also
provides suggested text for more appropriate fair use guidelines. Chapter
six, "Other People's Images: A Case History," chapter fourteen, "The
Duplication of Audiovisual Materials in Libraries," and chapter sixteen,
"New Forms of Media and the Challenge to Copyright Law" also contain
information applicable to reproductions of artworks.
Lyman, Peter. "Copyright and Fair Use in the Digital Age." Educom
Review 30(1) (January/February 1995): 33-5.
The author, who chairs Educom's Committee on Copyright and Fair Use,
calls into question the ability of current copyright law to effectively
address the multitude of issues brough forth by technological advances,
including the extension of fair use to networked environments. He ends
with a challenge to higher education to participate more actively in policy
discussion at the national level to ensure that its stake in the
transmission and consumption of knowledge is protected.
Madoff, Steven Henry. "Art in Cyberspace: Can It Live without a
Body?" New York Times January 21, 1996: (Arts & Leisure) 1,
34-5.
This article, in addition to providing a lengthy list of quality Web art
sites, presents both sides of the argument for the role that digital
technolgy can and will play in the contemporary art world. While some
view cyberspace as a threat to the singular experiential relationship of
viewer and object, others welcome its ability to demystify and deregulate
the visual arts, providing accessibility to a logarithmically-expanding
audience.
Merryman, John Henry and Albert E. Elsen. Law, Ethics, and the Visual
Arts. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press,
1987.
In volume one, from pages 175 to 213, there is a detailed discussion of
copyright law as it relates to artworks. Several examples of case law are
provided.
Pinchbeck, Daniel. "State of the Art." Wired 2.12 (December
1994): 206-8.
The author provides an overview of the economic and cultural impact of
digital technology in the contemporary art world, drawing parallels to
the positive relationship of science and the fine arts in Renaissance
Italy. Digitized images on the Internet can circumvent the gallery
system, calling into question once again (as had happened in the 1970s)
the idea of art as a "precious object," endowed with intrinsic qualities
of craftsmanship and immutability.
Powell, Cory S. "The Rights Stuff." Scientific American 272(1)
(January 1995): 30-1.
The economic implications of the digitization of works of art are explored
in this article. In addition, the brief history of the uneasy
relationship between the museum world and the electronic industry is
discussed, including the early attempts by Bill Gates to gain
exclusive digital rights from numerous major museums of fine art.
Interviews with the directors of the Museum of the Art Institute of
Chicago and the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., reveal a common
concern among those in the art world: the issue of control over
reproductions of works in their collections and the ease with which images
can be altered in a digitized format.
"Royalties, Fair Use & Copyright in the Electronic Age." Educom
Review 30(6) (November/December 1995): 30-5.
In this interview, Bruce A. Lehman, chair of the Working Group on
Intellectual Property Rights (the creators of the NII White Paper),
Assistant Secretary of Commerce, and Commissioner of Patents and
Trademarks, discusses the appropriateness of current copyright
regulations to electronic media, the necessity for copyright, and the
scope of fair use. The idea that information should be free is also
addressed.
"Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990." Public Law 101-650, section
601+. and "Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act." Public
Law 101-650, section 701+. United States Code Congressional and
Administrative News, 101st Congress - Second Session, vol. 4. St.
Paul: West Publishing Co., 1990.
The text of two recent laws. One improves the rights of visual artists
over and above copyright. The other more clearly defines copyright as it
applies to architecture.