Scenario 1.

Rights Ownership
This work, excluding institutional logos, is licensed under a Creative Commons Licence.

The following resource was created for academic teaching staff within UK higher educational
institutions as a part of the Intellectual Property Rights For Educational Environments (IPR4EE) project of the
University College Falmouth. The IPR4EE project is funded by HEFCE and part of the JISC/HE Academy UKOER
Phase II programme.

Keywords:
copyright, art work, public domain, public arena, public places, exhibitions, term and
conditions on tickets, recording of exhibitions, learning, teaching

An exhibition featuring a famous contemporary artist has just opened in your local art
museum and you decide to visit the exhibit at the weekend to take some
photographs to demonstrate techniques and to provide examples for your students.

Description: Picasa web albums /waldemar smolarek art/

blogger /smolarek/ www.whoswhogallery.com

Date: 1993.

Source: Own work

Author: Waldemar smolarek art

Permission: This file is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

You happily take pictures of all the fabulous art on display. You add these images to
a PowerPoint presentation for use in your class tomorrow.
• Is that ok?
• Who owns the rights to the images you take?
 Description: Cruz-Díez. Cuenca - Museum of Spanish
Abstract Art. Castilla - La Mancha. Spain.

Español: Obra del artista cinético venezolano Carlos Cruz-

Díez, expuesta en el Museo de Arte Abstracto Español,
Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha.

Date: 22 October 2009.

Source: Cuenca. Cruz Diez. Museum of Spanish Abstract

Art. Castilla - La Mancha. Spain

Author: Tomás Fano

Permission: This file is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Some of the works you photographed were images of works of art showing the
modern art movement over the last two hundred years with some pictures dating
from the early 1800’s.
• Who owns the rights to those images

Description: Painting by Victorian painter

William Powell Frith.

Date: 1888.

Source: scan of painting

Permission: This is a faithful photographic

reproduction of an original two-dimensional
work of art. The work of art itself is in the public
domain for the following reason:
• This image (or other media file) is in
the public domain because its
copyright has expired.
• This applies to Australia, the European
Union and those countries with a
copyright term of life of the author plus
 70 years.

While you’re sat down in your office reflecting on the success of the class, you find
the ticket stub in your pocket and notice the terms and conditions on the back. Upon
reading them you see that photography is prohibited within the museum.

On your way home you walk past the museum and see a flyer advertising the same
exhibition. It shows several of the contemporary works alongside some of the older
art work, in a professional and attractive style. You take a picture on your phone and
later add that to your lecture slides.

You also notice a fantastic sculpture being unveiled outside the museum. Again you
take a picture of this statue, add it to the slides and then upload the whole
PowerPoint to your blog, artacademic.com.

Description: Sculpture "Brug met ongelijke leggers"

by W. van der Hoek, Esdal College in Borger/The
Netherlands

Español: Obra del artista cinético venezolano Carlos

Cruz-Díez, expuesta en el Museo de Arte Abstracto
Español, Cuenca, Castilla-La Mancha.

Date: 18 May 2008.

Source: Own work

Author: Gerardus

Permission: I, the copyright holder of this work,

release this work into the public domain. This
applies worldwide.
In some countries this may not be legally possible; if
so: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any
purpose, without any conditions, unless such
conditions are required by law.
The following day you notice that you have received several thousand hits to your
site including hundreds of comments on the photos you have taken.

Out of the blue you receive an email from your boss inviting you to a meeting with
themselves, the museum director and the legal department for your institution. What
copyright issues might they want to discuss with you?

Description: Judge Judy Sheindlin

Date: 1 June 2005.

Source: Judge Judy & Painting

Author: Susan Roberts from Chicopee, U.S.A

Permission: This file is licensed under the Creative

Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.
For your information:
• You are employed as an art history lecturer on a full time permanent contract.
• Your blog is a personal blog fully open to the public and well respected among
your peers. (You also appear very highly on Google.)

Key questions:
• What rights might be associated with art exhibitions?
• How might these rights differ if the art works on display are from the 1800’s?
• Would this be different if the works were on display in a public space, i.e.
outside a museum on the wall?
• What do you need to do if you wish to use these artistic works in your
teaching resources?