In a message dated 6/10/2006 3:09:33 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
[log in to unmask] writes:
The good news is that the possibility of a law suit is 
small.  Section 412(1) of the Copyright Act says that unless 
unpublished materials are registered with the Copyright Office prior 
to an infringement, the copyright owner cannot sue for statutory 
damages or attorney's fees.  This takes away a lot of the monetary 
incentive to sue; the other major driving force might be privacy 
concerns.  In short, your proposed online exhibit may be illegal, but 
the likelihood that you will be sued is low.  And if you are sued, 
the damages that can be held against you are likely to be low.  You 
just have to decide if you like this type of argument.

********************

Another issue is the good will of the donors. If the work was donated with 
the idea that it will be preserved for access to serious researchers or their 
descendants, and it suddenly appears on a public website without their 
permission, they may feel left out or "used."  

Also, if the work is "stolen" from your web site and used for a commercial 
purpose without permission, you may be held partly responsible for making this 
possible without permission.

Mike Csontos

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