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6 Info. & Comm. Tech. L. 3 (1997)

handle is hein.journals/infctel6 and id is 1 raw text is: Information & Communications Technology Law, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1997 Intellectual Property Implications of Multimedia Products: a case study JOHN M. CONLEY & KELLI BEMELMANS University of North Carolina School of Law, Campus Box #3380, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA ABSTRACT This paper explores the intellectual property issues that arise in connection with the production and distribution of a multimedia product. The analysis focuses on a recent effort by a major US art museum to prepare a CD-ROM edition of its collection and catalogue. The issues discussed include: the copyright interests and moral rights of artists and others whose works were to be included in the product; the respective rights of the museum and the various expert contractors whom it proposed to employ in the production process; and the ability of the museum to use copyright, patent and licensing law to protect the finished product against unauthorized exploitation. These issues are examined comparatively, from both US and European legal perspectives. The museum's case is broadly applicable, as the legal questions that it confronted are likely to arise in a variety of multimedia contexts. The general conclusion is that the producer of a multimedia product faces significant legal uncertainty because of the law's limited experience in applying traditional intellectual property doctrines to this novel environ- ment. Introduction The authors recently concluded a legal analysis of a proposal by a US art museum to distribute its collection and catalogue on multimedia CD-ROM. In this paper we will use the museum's situation as a vehicle for exploring a number of intellectual property and other legal issues that are endemic to multimedia products. We will focus primarily on US law but also offer compar- ative comments from a European perspective. The problem The museum's collection of paintings and other art objects falls into three general categories: works in which the museum holds the copyright; works in which the artist, the artist's estate, or some third party holds the copyright; and works that are in the public domain, usually because the copyright has expired, but occasionally because the artist has dedicated the work to the public domain. The collection can also be divided into two parts along another legal axis: works (that is, the actual paintings, sculptures, etc.) that the museum owns outright; and works that it holds subject to limitations stated in a contract, deed of gift, or trust arrangement. As we shall discuss later, there is a significant legal 1360-0834/97/010003-13 @ 1997 Journals Oxford Ltd 3

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