Visions of Museum as a Content Holder
Case Presentation
Tobacco and Salt Museum
Curator
Yoshifumi SHIZUME
-Industry/Enterprise Museum as a Content Holder, and the Present
Under the policy on the enhancement of digital content, a variety of “resources” owned by the industry/enterprise museums has been in the spotlight. One of the reasons of this situation would be the extension of the target for digital content, as the term “resources” now includes not only so-called “Art works” or “historical materials,” but also commercial products, advertisement (posters, brochures, TV ads etc.,) manufacturing machines and documents of the past.
Under such circumstances, the resources that were created or published 50-100 years ago tend to be a troublemaker. To explain, many of them often do not retain their contract records, and thus it is quite difficult to trace their copyright holders. In consequence, such resources cannot be open to public in terms of recent corporate compliance.
*At present, the definition or extent of public domain is not clear enough. For that reason, so-called “administrator” has been emerging.
-Copyright and Museum
Copyright of the resources will not be transferred to museum, even if they are donated or purchased. At the same time, it means that museum cannot use these intellectual properties for its fee-charging publishing such as catalogue and other activities, even if they are a museum collection.
If we refer to the law in force, even audiovisual materials that were funded and produced by museum cannot reserve all copyrights, even though they were often and basically created for the screenings in the museum only.
--> In this situation, the museums are unable to judge whether these resources as intellectual properties can be open to public or not by their own decision. Or, precisely, “all resources on line” may not make sense, as long as the museums want or need visitors on site.
*Although “the use for academic purpose” has been widely accepted recently, its definition is still arbitrary.
*Admission fee is required in many museums. Also, museum is often constrained in case the industry (e.g. music) has its own rules.
*Currently, the (financial and managerial) condition of museums in Japan is severe. Even the definition of museum has been convulsed. (In Japan, we have the Museum Law. However, it is regarded as a mere shell, since the number of museum that received an official approval is actually small. For the museums, their subsistence has been also a big issue.)
The strategy-making that secures a benefit of the museums’ social and academic values for the release of these resources will be essential.
-Case study of “Tobacco and Salt Museum”
Tobacco and Salt Museum is the enterprise museum established in 1978. As an organization, it belongs to the Museum Department at Tobacco Research Institute (TASC), and is funded by Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT.)
--In case the advertisement of Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is exhibited or used:
Inform the advertising agency and the production company. Also, we obtain permission from a talent agency if a professional model was used. In this case, some agencies charged us for royalty.
--In case the advertisement of other corporation or organization is exhibited or used:
Inform the advertiser, advertising agency and the production company. Also, we obtain permission from a talent agency if a professional model was used. In the past, some advertisers rejected the exhibition or the use of their advertisement by reasons of their brand images and the industrial competitions.
For the museums, these right managements are not always just negative. For instance, we have been also paying our attention to the capacity for investigating the copyright holders. In order to protect them, some museums have been trying to maintain a good relationship with designers and so on.
*So far in Japan, we have tended to be careless with a copyright issue. When we think about its history, the protection of copyright cannot be ignored hereafter. However, in my opinion, the use of the resources for museum activities and academic purpose do not violate copyrights. In this point, we need to have a conversation with creators to adjust opinions.
-Abstracted keywords as a Future Perspective
Who is a copyright holder? What does it mean by “the use for academic purpose”? What is the common good or the public interest? What is the museum? How can we proceed a rulemaking for the use of the copyright-protected resources? How about the connection with other related regulations such as Personal Information Protection Law?
--> Constructing “a kind of trusting relationship,” the museums have solved these problems one after another, while there is no clear definition or answer. For the enterprise museums, they have carried off their social value on the common good or the public interest by “their own effort” in their history.
As a museum professional, it is important to consider the use of the copyright-protected resources in museum as a whole, as well as the use for academic purpose and the Internet.
*For the preservation of the industry/enterprise resources and their utilization in a broader sense, the enterprise museums are now planning to pursue a further discussion on the “fair use” with the cooperation of the Business Archives Association (BAA) and the industrial culture museum consortium etc. To gain a foothold, the symposium “Copyright issue for the use of the industry/enterprise resources” will be held in May or June 2009 as a collaborative project of the museum curators.
Tobacco and Salt Museum
Curator
Yoshifumi SHIZUME
-Industry/Enterprise Museum as a Content Holder, and the Present
Under the policy on the enhancement of digital content, a variety of “resources” owned by the industry/enterprise museums has been in the spotlight. One of the reasons of this situation would be the extension of the target for digital content, as the term “resources” now includes not only so-called “Art works” or “historical materials,” but also commercial products, advertisement (posters, brochures, TV ads etc.,) manufacturing machines and documents of the past.
Under such circumstances, the resources that were created or published 50-100 years ago tend to be a troublemaker. To explain, many of them often do not retain their contract records, and thus it is quite difficult to trace their copyright holders. In consequence, such resources cannot be open to public in terms of recent corporate compliance.
*At present, the definition or extent of public domain is not clear enough. For that reason, so-called “administrator” has been emerging.
-Copyright and Museum
Copyright of the resources will not be transferred to museum, even if they are donated or purchased. At the same time, it means that museum cannot use these intellectual properties for its fee-charging publishing such as catalogue and other activities, even if they are a museum collection.
If we refer to the law in force, even audiovisual materials that were funded and produced by museum cannot reserve all copyrights, even though they were often and basically created for the screenings in the museum only.
--> In this situation, the museums are unable to judge whether these resources as intellectual properties can be open to public or not by their own decision. Or, precisely, “all resources on line” may not make sense, as long as the museums want or need visitors on site.
*Although “the use for academic purpose” has been widely accepted recently, its definition is still arbitrary.
*Admission fee is required in many museums. Also, museum is often constrained in case the industry (e.g. music) has its own rules.
*Currently, the (financial and managerial) condition of museums in Japan is severe. Even the definition of museum has been convulsed. (In Japan, we have the Museum Law. However, it is regarded as a mere shell, since the number of museum that received an official approval is actually small. For the museums, their subsistence has been also a big issue.)
The strategy-making that secures a benefit of the museums’ social and academic values for the release of these resources will be essential.
-Case study of “Tobacco and Salt Museum”
Tobacco and Salt Museum is the enterprise museum established in 1978. As an organization, it belongs to the Museum Department at Tobacco Research Institute (TASC), and is funded by Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT.)
--In case the advertisement of Japan Tobacco Inc. (JT) is exhibited or used:
Inform the advertising agency and the production company. Also, we obtain permission from a talent agency if a professional model was used. In this case, some agencies charged us for royalty.
--In case the advertisement of other corporation or organization is exhibited or used:
Inform the advertiser, advertising agency and the production company. Also, we obtain permission from a talent agency if a professional model was used. In the past, some advertisers rejected the exhibition or the use of their advertisement by reasons of their brand images and the industrial competitions.
For the museums, these right managements are not always just negative. For instance, we have been also paying our attention to the capacity for investigating the copyright holders. In order to protect them, some museums have been trying to maintain a good relationship with designers and so on.
*So far in Japan, we have tended to be careless with a copyright issue. When we think about its history, the protection of copyright cannot be ignored hereafter. However, in my opinion, the use of the resources for museum activities and academic purpose do not violate copyrights. In this point, we need to have a conversation with creators to adjust opinions.
-Abstracted keywords as a Future Perspective
Who is a copyright holder? What does it mean by “the use for academic purpose”? What is the common good or the public interest? What is the museum? How can we proceed a rulemaking for the use of the copyright-protected resources? How about the connection with other related regulations such as Personal Information Protection Law?
--> Constructing “a kind of trusting relationship,” the museums have solved these problems one after another, while there is no clear definition or answer. For the enterprise museums, they have carried off their social value on the common good or the public interest by “their own effort” in their history.
As a museum professional, it is important to consider the use of the copyright-protected resources in museum as a whole, as well as the use for academic purpose and the Internet.
*For the preservation of the industry/enterprise resources and their utilization in a broader sense, the enterprise museums are now planning to pursue a further discussion on the “fair use” with the cooperation of the Business Archives Association (BAA) and the industrial culture museum consortium etc. To gain a foothold, the symposium “Copyright issue for the use of the industry/enterprise resources” will be held in May or June 2009 as a collaborative project of the museum curators.
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