4.2. Policies, practices and interpretations of law
The analysis below relies on website policies where GLAMs publish digital media of public domain collections. To aid the reader, footnotes include information on the policy name, the GLAM and its majority approach taken to publishing collections.
4.2.1. Interpretations of copyright law
Many GLAMs make broad statements that all online content is protected by UK law. The British Museum extends this interpretation to international law: “All the content on our website is protected by internationally recognised laws of copyright and intellectual property. The British Museum can decide under what terms to release the content for which we own the copyright.”[1] Leeds Museums & Galleries also claims “[o]ur copyright and other intellectual property rights are protected by UK laws and by international treaties”,[2] as does the Tank Museum: “All text, images and multi media files on this website are protected by internationally recognised laws of copyright and intellectual property.”[3] These and other GLAM references to national and international IP law make no mention of corresponding laws that shape or define the public domain.
A few expressly address rights arising in reproductions. The Government Art Collection reminds users “if the artist of the work is alive, or has been dead for less than seventy years, there will normally be a separate copyright in the work itself in addition to the copyright in the photographic reproduction”.[4] This is not technically accurate. A photographic reproduction is considered a copy of the underlying in-copyright work. The default rightsholder is thus the same rightsholder of the underlying work, unless that right was transferred or assigned by contract (e.g., to the GLAM during acquisition). The National Portrait Gallery’s framing is better: “An important thing to remember is that ownership of copyright can be completely distinct and separate from ownership of a physical object. For example, the Gallery owns a number of paintings and photographs (objects) which it cannot copy without permission, as it does not own the copyright. Often this rests with the artist or photographer, or their estate.”[5] There is no mention of what happens when the copyright expires. The Gallery links to the UK IPO’s website when describing the range of rights recognised in IP law, but it does not follow the IPO’s legal interpretation that no new rights arise in photographic reproductions of public domain works.[6] In the Copyright and reuse policy, the following statement is made: “The National Portrait Gallery champions clear and balanced information about copyright and licensing.”[7]
The Royal Pavilion & Museums Trust, Brighton & Hove is the only GLAM (of all 195, but likely in all of the UK) to rely on the 2015 UK IPO guidance in its interpretation of copyright law. The Museum publishes an extensive policy on intellectual property rights and reproductions, which “recognises that [the organisation] cannot claim copyright in faithful 2D reproductions of 2D objects which are no longer protected by copyright”.[8]
- ↑ Copyright and permissions, 8. British Museum (Closed licences)
- ↑ Terms of Use, 23. Leeds Museums & Galleries (All rights reserved)
- ↑ Privacy and Legal, 54. Tank Museum (All rights reserved)
- ↑ Crown copyright, 16. Government Art Collection (All rights reserved)
- ↑ An introduction to copyright, 39. National Portrait Gallery (Closed licences)
- ↑ An introduction to copyright, 39. National Portrait Gallery (Closed licences)
- ↑ Copyright and reuse, 39. National Portrait Gallery (Closed licences)
- ↑ IPR and reproduction policy, 50. Royal Pavilion Brighton Museums (All eligible data - no new rights)
