Infinite Copyright

Although the museum finally admitted they were incorrect on this issue, this incident shows how our changing view of copyright has turned into a control mechanism. Even if the paintings were copyrighted, the artists are long-dead and copyright should be expired. People now view copyright as lasting almost forever. This is relatively new legislation, as the original intent was to grant only a small monopoly over a work to encourage authors to create new works. The reason the copyright expires is to encourage derivative works. Stop sketching, little girl -- those paintings are copyrighted!: "Xeni Jardin: Museum security guard told a child to stop sketching paintings in a museum -- because they're copyrighted.

It is standard operating procedure for students of art to learn by example by sketching masterpieces in an art museum. A budding artist in Durham found that the time honored tradition was challenged while seeking inspiration at the Matisse, Picasso and the School of Paris: Masterpieces from the Baltimore Museum of Art exhibit in Raleigh. Over the weekend at the North Carolina Museum of Art there were works by Matisse, Picasso, Monet, Degas and some Illanas. Julia Illana is a second grader who was visiting the popular exhibit there with her parents and was sketching the paintings in her notebook. 'I love to draw in my notebook,' Illana said. Her sketch of Picasso's Woman with Bangs, which came out pretty good, and Matisse's Large Reclining Nude got the promising artist into trouble with museum security. A museum guard told Julia's parents that sketching was prohibited because the great masterpieces are copyright protected, a concept that young Julia did not understand until her mother explained the term.

Link (Thanks, Cowicide)" (Via Boing Boing.)