Digital BW, The Print

Austin Franklin wrote:

>
> Absolutely, but the poster DID in fact pay for it.  He said he had a book
> that had that very image in it.
>
>
Actually he never SAID that, for illustrative purposes (which may or may 
NOT indicate he actually own it) he said:

" It's no different
than if I took my Edward Weston: 50 Years signed, slipcased
monograph, and cut out those pictures to frame them."

In fact, it is QUITE different.  Copyright allows one to buy a copy or 
copies of a print, certainly.  However, it does not give one 
non-exclusive usage rights to an image contained in a copyrighted 
volume.  If I buy a copy of Weston images in a monograph, I might 
reasonably expect to be able to use those VERY images, those very 
prints, assuming I am willing to cut them free.  However, it would not 
give me license to include said images in a book I write, nor would it 
give me title to a poster of the same image(s).  

Similarly, if I license an image to a client for use in in-house 
publications, they don't have any right to resell that image (even to a 
sponsor).  

Although I find it highly unlikely anyone would be willing to endure the 
trouble and negative publicity of prosecuting behavior like "rcoda's" 
actions, it certainly looks like a clear copyright violation on its 
face.  However, were he to scan prints in his monograph (assuming he has 
one) and place them on his own walls, the violation is not so clear. 
 Fair use would likely turn on whether a reasonable person would have 
seen that as implicit in the use license granted when purchasing the 
copyrighted monograph.  I would guess the answer on a legal basis would 
still be "no."  

To look at this from a slightly different angle let's look at patent 
law, based upon the same premises..  I can buy a patented item.  But, if 
I blueprint it and/or copy it, I have violated the patent and probably 
voided my own usage license.

Basically, the real issue comes down to what the author/artist/inventor 
would have considered a reasonably expectable use of the item once it is 
purchased.


Keith