A legal question about image and music rights.

[web_maven]

I work for a museum and I put together many DVD videos and Interactive DVDs as hand-outs at trade shows or at events and many times we also put them on the Web. Since we are not-for-profit and not selling any of the disks do I still have to buy rights for images and music? My guess is yes we do but my previous jobs have been in regular corporations and I am not sure if the same apply to Non-profit.

Thank you in advance;
Raymond

[stantheman1976]

I don't believe it matters. If you are using images or sound that someone else has copyrighted you need permission to use it whether it's just asking or paying for it.

[byteguy]

Short answer: yes, you need to buy. There is not an exclusion for non-profits.

Longer answer: Check with a lawyer. If you are making an "educational" thing you may be able to get away with certain items under "fair use" but I believe you have to be talking about the thing itself in a scholarly fashion. You can play a Vivaldi record you have if you are talking about your extensive LP archive. But you can't play it if you are talking about the construction of your new modern-art wing.

[adam]

Not-for-profit organizations really don't get any special treatment under copyright law. Libraries and archives do, and a museum could qualify as such, but even these types of organizations still can't do this type of reproduction without express permission.

Have you consulted management about this? The works that the museum procures are going to be covered by some sort of agreement with the owner of the work, and it should outline what you can and can't do for purposes of promoting the exhibit. Unless the agreement says otherwise, you can't create and distribute copies of that work even for non-commercial promotion purposes. You'll have to negotiate a license for that.

[web_maven]

I did not think we can use images and audio in that way. We do have a lot of restrictions when objects come into the museum. I am even limited to what can go on the web and that it must show the full object. But the funny thing is that when they want to do something fancy the curators will just ignore the rules. I did explain about the legal issue but I just wanted know that I was correct. It is a shame because museums don't have a lot of money and being a salary employee my time is considered free even if I have to put in overtime so spending money on music and images is difficult. I am aware of Istock where I can get images very cheep does anyone know of a similar place for audio?

I got to get a new job!!!

Thanks for the conformation.
Raymond