[Foundation-l] Help requested on Commons copyright woes

Sat Jul 22 05:04:37 UTC 2006

Gregory Maxwell wrote:

> As much of a problem as the above may be for us, it's not the worst of
> it:  Simmlar cases to Bridgeman v. Corel have come up in the UK and
> the decision has been exactly the opposite.

They have? If so, could you point one out? So far, I know that people 
have pointed to a statutory definition of photographs as artistic works 
in their own right under UK law. But beyond that argument, which doesn't 
seem to clearly settle the matter, I'm not aware of anything that 
addresses the precise issue in Bridgeman v. Corel under UK law. Indeed, 
the famous Bridgeman opinion was only issued after the court originally 
decided the case based on its understanding of UK law (with the same 
result), and was persuaded to reconsider and concluded that US law 
applied, thus more clearly stating how this principle operates for US 
law. Now a US court is certainly not the final word on UK law, but I'd 
like to know more if there really is a conflicting decision out there.

--Michael Snow