Court Rules Photo of Memorial Violates Copyright

WhatDoIKnow sends in a story about an appeals court ruling in a singular case that might have the effect of narrowing "fair use" rights for transformative uses of artworks. "The sculptor who designed the Korean War memorial [in Washington DC] brought suit against the Postal Service after a photograph of his work was used on a postage stamp. Though first ruled protected by 'fair use,' on appeal the court ruled in favor (PDF) of the sculptor, Frank Gaylord, now 85."

Comments

Re:isn't the memorial already in the public domain

[mdwh2]

Indeed, and furthermore, I believe it's the case that all works produced by the US Government are explicitly released into the public domain.

And it's not as if this is something he built himself. Why does the designer own the copyright, and not the people who constructed it? God knows what kind of contract they must have had...

It's nice to know all those people died, so that other people could have the "freedom" to grow old making money for doing nothing.

Time to de-fund law schools?

[KwKSilver]

Lawyers make obscenities like this possible--commonplace, it seems. If it is his goddamned piece of "art" he needs to fetch the crap up and get it off the public land--or to start paying rent on the public property where his "sacred IP" is being displayed now for free. If he can't come get it or pay the rent, then it should be destroyed at his expense. The greedy bastard should also be forced to disgorge the fee he was paid with interest . Fuck all these wannabe "artistes" who want to be worshiped forever for one third-rate "work." Fuck the laywers, too. Is it time to stop funding law schools?