Jerry Fisher lives in South Dakota, near Augustana College. Jerry is into 3D printing, 3D modeling and photogrammetry. Jerry walks by Augustana College, and sees two bronze casts of famous works by Michelangelo. Jerry decides to attempt to scan them and make models out of them. Jerry posts his digital capture and 3D model of Michelangelo’s Moses on Thingiverse. A representative from the legal department of Augustana College calls Jerry to tell him that the school considers the two statues (which were a gift) to be private property, and that he is guilty of copyright infringement. Jerry is bewildered.
I’m writing this as though it were a child’s book, because this is one of the most childish things I’ve ever heard of. Augustana College and Sioux Falls received these two statues as gifts from a local resident for everyone to enjoy. People take photos of the statues all of the time. If you browse different 3D file repositories, you’ll see a lot of public domain art, like Michelangelo’s David, or Venus de Milo, busts of famous writers, politicians, artists and other public figures. I’m sure Jerry was using the public art as a way to practice his photogrammetry technique.
But they didn’t just tell Jerry to take down his file from Thingiverse. According to Jerry, “a representative from Augustana contacted me and requested that I take Moses down immediately and to contact anyone else with a downloaded copy of my model and inform them that they should delete it.” Wow. So the donated casts of public domain art for the public to enjoy couldn’t be uploaded to a public file-sharing site.
Jerry consulted a local attorney, who said any photography of the statue would be ok, but taking a photo and trying to sell it, or trying to make a model of the statue would probably violate some copyright or intellectual property law. He was told that he would be allowed to continue his photogrammetry, (insert fury) as long as it wasn’t of any city property! Even if it was on public land!
This is insane. This is like banning someone from taking photos of public water fountains or a tree in your neighborhood. Also, does Augustana College not realize that what they have is a replica?!
Now, Jerry spent a lot of time, taking thousands of photographs, and to model an accurate representation. He was probably any one of a number of stories where museums around the world welcomed people scanning and uploading public domain art for everyone to 3D print and enjoy. Imagine that you couldn’t upload a photo, which is reality data captured by a camera, digitized and uploaded into software and onto the internet, on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. It’s ridiculous.
Jerry says in a Sketchfab forum, “I think the wider the coverage this gets, the more good that can come of it…places all over the United States seem to have inconsistent interpretations of what constitutes a copyright or intellectual property.”
Although the school doesn’t seem to have contacted him since, Jerry is right. If you scroll to the bottom of this page, you will find Augustana’s twitter, FB, Instagram and all other social media accounts. Feel free to let them know how ridiculous this is.
