-----Original Message-----
From: Jack Robertson 
Sent: Monday, October 24, 2005 5:22 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: FW: Image sharing


Dear All,
I don't remember seeing this short and interesting essay cited on arlis-l, so I'm taking the liberty of posting it. I suspect that the Word file attachment will not come through UK's email server, so the full text is below.

Cheers,

-- jack

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *
Jack Robertson  ||  Foundation Librarian
Jefferson Library  || Thomas Jefferson Foundation
PO Box 316  Charlottesville, VA  22902
(434) 984-7545  ||  http://www.monticello.org/library 


Author, Kenneth Hamma
Exec. Dir. for Digital Policy, J. Paul Getty Trust [log in to unmask]

Public Domain Art in an Age of Easier Mechanical Reproducibility a contribution in memory of Stephen Weil

In principle a work of art has always been reproducible. 

In all the arts there is a physical component which can no longer be considered or treated as it used to be, which cannot remain unaffected by our modern knowledge and power. 

	Walter Benjamin opened his 1936 essay, Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzierbarkeit, with the first observation quoted above.  He then extended the notion of reproducibility to suggest how it might mutate in a world that has changed since that in which any historical work had been created.   Benjamin turned to Paul Valéry with the second quotation, which continues a bit further:  "Just as water, gas, and electricity are brought into our houses from far off to satisfy our needs in response to a minimal effort, so we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand, hardly more than a sign."  Neither Benjamin nor Valéry could imagine the uses to which a copyright act might be put. 

	Nearly every art museum today asserts intellectual property rights in reproduction images of public domain works in its collection.  It is argued here that placing these visual reproductions in the public domain and clearly removing all questions about their availability for use and reuse would likely cause no harm to the finances or reputation of any collecting institution, and would demonstrably contribute to the public good.  As those images have become increasingly regarded as assets and as the preferred delivery venue for images has become increasingly an electronic network, the question of whether to allow free access and reproduction has become vitally important and complex.  The paradigm for sharing in this context is fundamentally different from anything we have known before.  The manner in which these rights might be granted, that is, the associated language and processes, may require consultation with legal counsel.  Doing it, however, is not complicated by legal constraints.  The choice to do so is a business decision that can be evaluated by nonprofits by measuring success against their mission.

	The music industry's struggle to come to terms with the Internet has over the last years dominated much of our thinking about copyright and about a communications medium that has fundamentally changed notions of distribution and use.  At the heart of this industry's problems seem to have been out-of-date business models, wildly divergent values with a wish that new technology would not be used, and rebellious consumers and artists.  Those same problems are already vexing non-profits with visual assets.  Over time every business - including museums and libraries - will have to manage for these kinds of changes.  And here the recording industry's turmoil may provide some helpful guidance.  Among other things, it should instruct the non-profit world to keep in focus its business, described by a mission-based bottom line.  We might well ask ourselves, what is our business/mission that is to be extended into an online environment: - Is it publishing?  Research?  Education?  Access?  Commercial licensing of images?


Discussion
	Art museums and many other collecting institutions in this country hold a trove of public-domain works of art.  These are works whose age precludes continued protection under copyright law.  These works are the result of and evidence for human creativity over thousands of years, an activity these museums celebrate by their very existence.  For reasons that seem too frequently unexamined, these museums erect barriers that contribute to keeping quality images of these works out of the hands of the general public, of educators, and of the general milieu of creativity.  In restricting access, art museums effectively take a stand against the creativity they would otherwise celebrate.  This conflict arises as a result of the widely accepted practice of asserting rights in the images that the museums make of the public domain works of art in their collections.

	Indeed, it is not at all clear that the institutional claims of copyright to such works would survive a legal challenge.  The judgment in a 1999 case, BRIDGEMAN ART LIBRARY, LTD. v. COREL CORP., brought in a U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, held that marketing of photographic copies of two-dimensional public domain master artworks, without adding anything original, cannot constitute copyright infringement when the underlying work is in the public domain.  By and large, museums have been holding their noses and hoping this ruling will neither be broadly noticed nor challenged.   The fact that it applies only to two-dimensional works of art likely provides little relief to many museums with a traditional but persistent pecking order that goes something like: paintings, drawings, everything else.

	When the distribution of reproductions of art works was accomplished with film-based slides, transparencies, and printed images, the harm caused by assertion of rights in images of public domain works to the mission of these publicly supported and tax-benefited institutions was less restrictive.  Obtaining an image generally required moving a physical object, the film or paper based image, from one place to another.  Although images, once acquired, could be duplicated to some extent the quality was always less than the original film.  The restriction imposed by the assertion of rights in images was less visible and less burdensome to the extent that physical access was an a priori constraint accepted by all parties.  Similarly, violations of use were difficult to find when that use involved a physical copy. The re-use of images and copies in university slide libraries, for example, was more likely to be overlooked by museums. Today, digital images can be copied from a web site, reproduced, and widely distributed quickly, with ease and little expense.  While examples of museums chasing down digital image miscreants are rare to non-existent, the expectation that they might do so has had a stultifying effect on the development of digital image libraries for teaching and research.

	In the online world, the assertion of rights either prevents the provision of images entirely or results in providing images that are marked in some way or of low quality.  Low resolution makes them useless for most uses.  Because the internet allows and encourages flow of information unlimited by a gatekeeper, museums restrict access, not wishing to undermine their financial potential for commercial licensing.

	This resistance to free and unfettered access may well result from a seemingly well-grounded concern: museums assume, as the recording industry, that an important part of their core business is the acquisition and management of rights in art works to maximum return on investment.  But for nonprofit institutions holding public domain works, that is not their core business; it is not even their secondary business.  Indeed, restricting access seems all the more inappropriate when measured against a museum's mission -- a responsibility to provide public access.  Their charitable, financial, and tax-exempt status demands such.  The assertion of rights in public domain works of art -- images that at their best closely replicate the values of the original work -- differs in almost every way from the rights managed by the recording industry.  Because museums and other similar collecting institutions are part of the private nonprofit sector, the obligation to treat assets as held in public trust should replace the for-profit goal.   To do otherwise, undermines the very nature of what such institutions were created to do.

	Some art museums may generate a significant portion of revenues through commercial licensing of images of works in their collections, and that revenue may be vital for their continued operations.  However, we have little to no data on the extent to which such revenues really currently support museum operations.  There are no publicly available figures derived from any survey of net revenue generated by individual museums as a percentage of operating costs.   Neither is there good information on what percentage of revenues is based on public domain works or what percentage comes from works still under copyright constraints.  We know even less about the costs associated with the generation of such revenue, monitoring infringement, and enforcing grievances  - something traditionally ignored in the income analysis of nonprofits.   Answering these questions would provide insight as to whether there is enough revenue to be worried about. 

	If the hope for significant commercial licensing revenue diminishes easy access to quality images for education and research, we might be tempted to ask how much income justifies the diminution of the institution's mission driven goals?  As seductive as the finance question is, the answer lies first in a policy choice for each museum.  Nonetheless, it may also lie in a public policy choice with respect to the definition of the private nonprofit sector.

	Are there other revenue possibilities that have been overlooked because of the focus on commercial licensing?  For example, it is clear that the public visibility of and familiarity with works of art generates interest in those works.  That interest contributes to the revenues realized from entrance fees as well as bookstore and cafeteria sales.  This generation of revenue is visible in the persistent use of images of well-known works in many venues as advertisements to drive traffic to the museum's front door.  Why else would the paraphernalia that travels under the banner of King Tut return - yet again?  The widespread distribution of images ultimately increases attendance at the museum.

	While the reasons for prohibiting the distribution of quality images online are frequently founded in an intention, however unrealistic, to benefit from their potential commercial exploitation, there exists as well the notion of controlling the proper educational and proper creative use of those images.  This notion derives from something of a paternalistic stance by museums that has existed for more than a century that they alone can properly interpret the works in their collections.  By attempting to hold works of art within an institutional voice, the single interpretation has often effectively isolated those works from a more engaged public experience.  This topic is much discussed today in many museums (also now with respect to audio tours), and while there has been a broad attempt to come to terms with the notion of single institutional voice, most museums continue to control all voices but their own by their restriction in the use of images of their works.

	What else motivates the notion of a proper use of images of works of art?  Museums argue that the value of the original work diminishes in some way with familiarity -- the kind of familiarity that might be brought on by the lack of appropriate explanation and context setting, by subsequent creative use, and by any creative use that may not be considered flattering to the collecting institution.  But the net effect of experience with commercial and creative reuses of an image can best be demonstrated by looking to the Mona Lisa.  Does anyone really think poorly of the Louvre or of the Mona Lisa because of her long career spinning off wall paper, cookie jars, cigar bands, and so on?  Do we laugh at the Mona Lisa for seeing her smile so often and so ubiquitously?

	Museums' collections of public domain art, along with images of public domain works in libraries and archives, represent a public trust, a public commons of cultural heritage.  While we currently do not find it odd to be asked to pay for access to an online library of digital images of public domain works of art, we would find it untenable to have to pay for such access upon entering a library to consult public domain materials.  And while each museum must establish its own values, most such institutions would readily agree that their values fundamentally include concern for the past and future of ideas and creativity as they relate to the objects they shepherd. An institutional analysis of income might suggest, museum by museum, that the take at the front gate far outweighs or could far outweigh all net licensing revenues.

	How unreasonable then would it be to put high quality images of public domain art back into the public domain unfettered and unrestricted for all?  Would it not be in everyone's better interest to further easy sharing of these resources, which the Internet can provide, as an opportunity for public education and benefit?  Looked at through the lens of potential commercial licensing income, this may seem too trivial an issue to consume leadership time.  Looked at through the lens of a healthy public commons for creativity, there may be no easier or better service for museum leaders to provide.


Epilogue
	There are several possible secondary consequences of acting on this proposal.  To a large extent, those consequences are unpredictable even though they may be anticipated.

	Any individual museum that unilaterally withdraws its assertions of intellectual property rights in images of public domain works, which seems the most likely starting point for any change in policy, may earn a reputation of having effectively undermined the assumed future potential for all fine arts image providers.  To most users of images, one Monet is pretty much like another for a DVD cover that is to be mainly blue and green.  One Boucher may be much like the next for a Mother's Day greeting card.  For these purposes, an unencumbered image is much more likely to be used - by almost everyone - than one available for use under license and with restrictions. A large institution may be accused of using its size and power to undercut others with some variation of "they could do this because they have revenues from tickets or bookstore or endowment."  While that argument would not be a particularly meaningful response to the policy issue at hand, it might be effective spin.

	On the other hand, a potential upside may coincide well with a closely related issue, namely promoting the management of and respect for intellectual property rights in works that are not in the public domain.  Permitting an enormous wealth of images of finely crafted works to circulate freely may act as something of a pressure release - assuming at least some pent-up public demand for available images.  More importantly, if properly handled, this opportunity to increase the public domain could focus attention on intellectual property rights in a very positive way, creating an opportunity for any museum to explain the value of respecting rights for works still under copyright.  The current time frame for copyright may seem a long time, but it is an appropriately ephemeral period of control compared to the unlimited time span implicit in most current museum practice.

	Easy and unfettered access seems likely to make a museum's collection online a more attractive and consequently more used resource.  That attractiveness might be leveraged into revenue by providing opportunities within a general public view of the collection online to acquire - for a fee - cards, posters, and other products.  It is true that without the exclusivity guaranteed by intellectual property control, other market forces may come to bear.  But aren't those forces already familiar and similar to those that affect the popularity of a museum's collections and exhibitions in a larger world of education and of leisure time activities? Obviously these opportunities are available to museums only because of the Internet, where a mouse click is Valéry's conjecture that "we shall be supplied with visual or auditory images, which will appear and disappear at a simple movement of the hand..."

About the Author
Kenneth Hamma
Exec. Dir. for Digital Policy, J. Paul Getty Trust [log in to unmask]

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