[NHCOLL-L:94] Re: copyright issues

[Peter Rauch]

I read the Copyright Declaration as an intent to retain copyright of the
*photographs* and *digital images* of specimens and their label and
associated data, and *not* as a copyrighting of the specimens or data
themselves.

This distinction doesn't diminish the value of asking "what's going on
here?", but it does refocus the issue some.

Why, for example, did the NHM decide to retain copyright of photos and
digital images of specimens and (photos of) label data, but not of data
(e.g., measurements or label data) published in a scientific journal
where that specimen is described or discussed? (Or, does the NHM have a
separate policy on this as well!?) 

One might speculate that a photo of a specimen might have some monetary
value in the commercial market place, and that the musuem wants a cut of
that action, but how to explain the control of photos of label data?

Why "images" of, but not reproduction of data in print? And, are digital
displays of data values (i.e., not of the image of the data as written
on a label or in a notebook) considered by the museum to be "electronic
images of ...  associated data"?

I suspect that only the NHM can explain their policy.
Peter

> > 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
> > 
> > 
> Dieter Wilken, Ph.D.
> Director of Research
> Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
> 1212 Mission Canyon Road
> Santa Barbara, CA   93105
> dwilken at sbbg.org
> 
>