14 DAY TRIAL // A Wikipedia user who uploaded thousands of photos of portraits from the British National Portrait Gallery in London is now apparently threatened with legal actions by the museum. The user is accused of downloading thousands of high-resolution photos from the National Gallery's website and then making them available on Wikipedia.
The issue isn't as clear cut as it may seem. The paintings in the photos were all from the Victorian era or earlier and, as such, were under public domain. In England however the photos themselves can be copyrighted and it is because of this that Wikipedia user 'Dcoetzee' has apparently been sent a letter by the British law firm Lincoln's Inn lawyers Farrer & Co. informing him or her of legal actions started in the UK Courts. There is no confirmation from other parties involved except for the published letter on Wikimedia.
The problem is that the user, a US citizen, acted in accordance with US law, which stipulates that photos of public domain works cannot be copyrighted as they lack originality. This was established in the Bridgeman v. Corel case in 1999 when the court ruled that such photos could not be copyrighted. The Wikipedia servers are also housed in the US so it would appear that the user is protected.
However, English law, which applies only in England and Wales, not Scotland, does allow this type of photos, even those of books or other pieces under public domain, to be copyrighted and it is under this law that the lawsuit is filed. If the suit turns out to be genuine it should prove a very interesting case for Internet in general and how content online can fall under multiple jurisdictions and different laws.
There are some other possible issues as, generally, it is held that the act of viewing a web page is in fact publishing as the browser creates a copy of the page on the server on the local machine therefore falling under local jurisdiction. This could potentially mean that every English citizen viewing the Wikipedia pages would be guilty of copyright infringement. Further complicating the matters is the fact that the National Gallery is a public institution funded mostly by the British Government.