[WikiEN-l] Used-with-permission images, a modest proposal

Tue Jul 5 18:45:10 UTC 2005

On 7/5/05, Theo Clarke <wiki at tignosis.com> wrote:
> My understanding from museum and gallery folks is that the photography is a creative act.  This is substantiated by the variations that are possible in the representation of the object (if only variations of intensity and hue).
[snip]

I'm not aware of how it works around the world, but in the US we are
very generous with extending copyright to photographs and in general
to many non-artistic works which simply required a lot of effort to
produce.

And archival grade photography certainly does require a lot of effort
to produce: There are several interacting axis of decision on which a
compromise must be struck, mostly involving lighting.  In general
lighting which operates efficiently enough to produce sufficient light
generally tends to only operate at a few wavelegnths. Depending on the
media used in the art this can cause a dramatically incorrect
rendition of the colors.  So the photographer is often left trying to
fix these compromises with their choice in film and the channel gain
settings on the digital rig. It often requires specific knowledge of
the behavior of the paints in use to get it right.

In short, don't be so quick to discount the work. If we can grant
copyright on any work which is purely function (as is some software),
then there is no rational reason that copyright can not equally be
extended to an archival grade photograph.

As far as I can tell this position is strongly supported by caselaw in
the US, and I think that it would be a fair position on Wikipedia to
make an effort to preferentially make use of made-by-wikipedian and
truly PD photographs of PD artwork when such alternatives are
available.

That said, the problem is big enough that it would be unreasonable to
try to make a full correction at this time. I think we just need to
start with the position that we prefer works made by wikipedians and
will replace works not made by wikipedians with works by wikipedians
as such choices come along.