Images in a Changing World
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Monday is my day to post a blog. I failed to post on time this week because I was trying to come to terms with copyright law, use permissions, and the failed concept of public domain works of art. (I'm happy to report I'm that far along with both my high quality video productions and my book.)
Most of my readers are decent and upright citizens, and may not be aware of terms like copyright nazis. Consider this. If one were to re-record a recording of a piece of music by, for example, by putting a microphone in front of a speaker, most people would not consider this a new piece of art. It certainly wouldn't be copyrightable. But, in fact, if one takes a purely technical photograph of a photograph, that is considered a new work of art. Even if a photograph is very old, and is clearly now in the public domain, a person or a corporation, or a museum can take a new picture of it and restart the copyright. These works can be owned too, creating some incomprehensible process by which I, or you, can be required to pay for permission to use them. You need to be a lawyer to understand it.
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