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UK's National Portrait Gallery Threatens To Sue Wikipedia User

Posted by Soulskill on from the pictures-of-pictures dept.

jpatokal writes "The National Portrait Gallery of London is threatening litigation against a Wikipedia user over his uploading of pictures of some 3,000 paintings, all 19th century or earlier and firmly in the public domain. Their claim? The photos are a 'product of a painstaking exercise on the part of the photographer,' and that downloading them off the NPG site is an 'unlawful circumvention of technical measures.' And remember, the NPG's taxpayer-funded mission is to 'promote the appreciation and understanding of portraiture in all media [...] to as wide a range of visitors as possible!'"

5 of 526 comments (clear)

  1. Re:The law is on London's side by sys.stdout.write · · Score: 0, Troll

    How is this modded Troll? It's a correct statement of U.K. law and relevant to the article.

    What, does using the word "dipshit" automatically make something a troll post? Honestly, come on Slashdot..

  2. Re:So whose are the photographs? by BasilBrush · · Score: 0, Troll

    You are mistaken. Try reading again.

  3. Re:I can't see that they're wrong by DerekLyons · · Score: 0, Troll

    Do pay the fuck attention - the images are from the UK, and thus US law does not apply you ignorant dipshit.

  4. Re:The law is on London's side by gaspyy · · Score: 1, Troll

    OK - it should be easy then. You go to the National Gallery, take 3300 pictures, release them under Creative Commons or public domain and upload them.

    It can be done. I've done it. But it's not trivial (hint: avoiding reflections and highlights, correcting perspective & distortion, making sure the colors are accurate).

  5. American Hypocrisy by gzunk · · Score: 0, Troll

    Did USA tax payers fund the taking of the photographs? - No.
    Do USA tax payers fund the National Portrait Gallery? - No.
    Does the USA own the pictures in the National Portrait Gallery? - Unknown, but probably not.

    If copying the photographs would be legal in the States, THEN COPY YOUR OWN FINE ART. I would be quite happy for the NPG to remove all their images and basically have people go in person to the gallery to view them. That would stop you American freeloaders :-)

    Oh and while I'm here - stop downloading all that BBC content that you feel you are entitled to, because it's "public service broadcasting". When was the last time you paid for a TV license? Just because your own TV is rubbish, that's no justification for stealing ours.

    I've helped pay for it. You haven't.