[WikiEN-l] Re: Google Earth copyright (now that you bring it up)

Sun Jan 22 23:25:35 UTC 2006

Justin Cormack wrote:

> US law doesnt recognise copyright of sculptures in photos - only
> 2D art, as there is creativity in making the picture of the sculpture.

Wrong. The creativity involved in making a derivative work does not 
exempt it from the copyright in the original work. Sculptures are 
absolutely just as capable of having copyright as any other work of art.

There is a federal district court case holding that under particular 
circumstances, a sculpture's copyright was dedicated to the public 
domain under a theory of general publication. But otherwise, a 
photograph of a sculpture is subject to the copyright of the sculpture.

--Michael Snow