<
https://www.techdirt.com/2024/02/22/uk-court-ruling-has-potential-to-free-up-the-public-domain-but-museums-might-still-block-it/>
"There’s a post on the Creative Commons blog with some important news about
copyright (in the UK, at least):
In November 2023, the Court of Appeal in THJ v Sheridan offered an
important clarification of the originality requirement under UK copyright
law, which clears a path for open culture to flourish in the UK.
In setting the copyright originality threshold, the court stated: “What is
required is that the author was able to express their creative abilities in
the production of the work by making free and creative choices so as to
stamp the work created with their personal touch.” Crucially, the court
affirmed that “this criterion is not satisfied where the content of the work
is dictated by technical considerations, rules or other constraints which
leave no room for creative freedom.”
The post points out that the case is potentially a “game-changer in the UK open
culture landscape”:
Because by setting the standard for copyright to arise based on “free and
creative choices” it effectively bars copyright claims from being made over
faithful reproductions of public domain materials (i.e., materials that are
no longer or never were protected by copyright).
This touches on a topic that
Walled Culture has written about many times: the
fact that many museums and art galleries around the world try to claim
copyright on faithful reproductions of artistic creations in their collections
that are unequivocally in the public domain. Their argument, such as it is,
seems to be that taking a digital photo or making a 3D copy requires such an
immense intellectual effort that a new monopoly should be granted on it. It’s
really about money, of course."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
