[NHCOLL-L:90] Copyright issues

[Sally Shelton]

Posted by Lynn Kimsey.

In 1998 the Natural History Museum (London) instituted a new
regulation regarding its collections, which prohibits the image
recording of any of its specimens or specimen label data by
photography  or digital imaging, unless an institutional
permission statement was signed and fees paid every time
the image was used. The Museum is  in essence declaring that the
museum holds copyright to each specimen and associated data.

The permission document is as follows:

*****************************************
COPYRIGHT DECLARATION

I undertake, if required, to provide the Natural History Museum
with copies of all photographs or electronic images that I take
of Natural History Museum specimens and their labels.

I cede Copyright and Publication Right in all such photographs
or electronic images of specimens, labels and associated data
belonging to the Natural History Museum to the Trustees of the
said Museum.

I will obtain written permission from the Natural History Museum
and pay the required fee before any such photograph or image
is reproduced or copies in any way, including digital scanning.

************************ 
On the face of it one can see a certain legitimacy in this policy
for commercial collection use. All of us have addressed this
kind of use in different ways. However, the implication that one
can copyright specimens and specimen data has much broader
legal implications which can do some serious damage to scientific
research and specimen accesss.

I think this issue needs some serious international discussion.

Sincerely,

Lynn S. Kimsey
Director
Center for Biosystematics
Bohart Museum of Entomology
University of California
Davis, CA 95616 USA