Who Owns This Image?

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

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.

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
Christopher Lyon, Executive Editor, Prestel Publishing
William Patry, Senior Copyright Counsel, Google
Hon. Richard A. Posner, United States Court of Appeals, 7th Circuit
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?