[NHCOLL-L:878] Re: Ownership, specimens, and copyright?

[Lynn Kimsey]

As I recall this subject was briefly discussed more than a year ago
(several years ago?). No one seemed particularly alarmed by the British
Museum instituting this policy. However, maybe now the implications
are clearer. This becomes a fundamental question of legalities when
you consider primary type specimens. Does this mean that any publication
mentioning the data from primary types becomes the intellectual property
of the museum? I can't think of a surer way to stiffle international
systematic
research. This would be very much like the US National Park Service demanding
intellectual ownership of every painting and photograph taken of Old
Faithful Geyser in Yellowstone National Park on the basis that Old
Faithful is the property of the US Government. This would certainly be
unenforceable in US or international law. It is clear that this issue will
have to
be addressed by the International Zoological Code of Nomenclature, e.g. if
type 
specimens are only loaned if the borrower signs some kind of contract
turning over 
all rights to the data from type specimens then these types are not truly
available
for study.

Sincerely,
Lynn S. Kimsey
Bohart Museum of Entomology
 

At 01:59 PM 2/5/01 -0500, you wrote:
>A researcher here has asked a question which I am passing along in hopes
of tapping into some expertise. Over the last year or so, concerns have
been expressed about policies at least one major (non-US) museum that
essentially assert the museum's right of ownership to "all information
derived from (their) specimens, that is, images made from them and the
information taken from the specimen label data..." Some researchers have
been asked to assign intellectual ownership of photographs, etc. of museum
specimens to the museum before loans could be sent and research could be
contractually allowed to proceed. (The question is NOT about patented
material or about the ownership of the specimens per se.)
>
>We're interested in finding out what the status of this sort of policy is
at the museums where it has been proposed or implemented, the legal
justification of it within the legal system of the country(ies) in
question, and the effect this has had, if any, on loans and research.
Thanks in advance for any and all information. 
>
>Cheers, 
>
>
>
>
>Sally Y. Shelton
>Collections Officer
>National Museum of Natural History
>Smithsonian Institution
>Washington, DC   20560-0107
>phone (202) 786-2601, FAX (202) 786-2328
>email Shelton.Sally at nmnh.si.edu
>
>List owner, PERMIT-L
>
>