Dear All

 

A word of caution - the IPO document referred to in this article is a carefully-considered piece of advice but it does not have the status of case-law and does not represent a legal ‘decision’ – i.e. it is not decisive. This is an important distinction, if you are considering using it as a basis for your own risk appraisals.

 

Nevertheless, I’m sure the IPO’s advice will be influential.

 

UK institutions may respond to this advice in different ways. Almost all of them are struggling with the economy of digitisation - the massive investment it requires, at a time when core funding is being cut. Many institutions attempt to recoup costs through licensing images and if it becomes harder to do this, they may have to cut their digitisation programmes. This is the awkward double-bind in delivering the social value of public domain materials in institutional collections. The materials are in the public domain but, without incurring the costs of digitisation, they are not available.

 

But there are other factors in the economy of rights-management, digitisation and public access, such as the encouraging WIPO study

http://www.ip-watch.org/2015/12/10/wipo-copyright-committee-hears-case-for-exceptions-for-museums/

recently circulated on the Museums IP listserv, which in due course (with the mission to help museums deliver social value) could have the effect of reducing digitisation overheads. And, in addition, institutions need to look carefully at the overheads of licensing transactions (if it costs you $50 to raise $20, it’s cheaper to give it away – assuming your argument is purely economical, which it seldom is!).

 

It was the willingness to look carefully at all these issues, within a changing digital environment and with the aid of prominent Wikipedians, which enabled me to lead a radical and successful reconfiguration of licensing operations at the National Portrait Gallery, following the Wikipedia incident in 2009.

 

With best wishes from Hong Kong for the festive season

 

-Tom

 

Tom Morgan

Manager, Rights & Reproductions

Collections & Exhibition Services

M+

   

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