Can A Public Space Be Copyrighted?

// February 10th, 2005 // General // 1,268 views

Copyrighted public spaces? Sounds a bit absurd, doesn’t it? It appears that Chicago’s new Millennium Park is in fact a copyrighted public space. Huh?

Apparently the attempt of a photojournalist to photograph a particular sculpture was stopped by security guards asking him for the relevant permits. Read more here.

I think it’s quite obvious that whatever is in the public domain, should stay in the public domain and that is to, at least, be able to take pictures of a sculpture in a public place. Imagine if there was suddenly a ban on taking pictures of the statue of Nelson Mandela at the Nelson Mandela Square.

Naturally, if you want to reproduce any piece of work for commercial purposes, you’ll have to get the relevant permission.

Pop over to Creative Commons for more information on “intellectual property rights”.

Then in other news today, I see the argument that ideas in advertising should be paid for based on its usage.

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