[WikiEN-l] Application of the {{pd-art}} tag

Tue Apr 11 22:16:25 UTC 2006

On 4/11/06, Mak <makwik at gmail.com> wrote:
> According to a number of librarians I've spoken with, a number of US Museums
> and libraries would differ with you on that.

If the work is out of copyright, they can only do that by requiring
agreement to a legally valid and binding contract before letting you
see the work.  This is the case worldwide, in most cases.  Nations
differ as to whether an accurate 2D copy is itself copyrightable, but
my understanding of the law is that once something is out of
copyright, it can be legally copied unless you sign a contract stating
you won't.

If an 'unauthorised' copy is made, the issue is almost entirely one of
contract law, not copyright law.

I'm uncertain of what the legal position is if the owner of a work
insists that "since we require everyone accessing this work to agree
to a contract, this copy must be illegal" but fails to identify who
was in breach of their contract and thus prove the breach of contract.

There's also the issue of how binding are unsigned contracts, in the
case of things exhibited to the public.

-Matt