FEATURES OF THE USE OF WORKS OF FINE ART AND PHOTOS IN THE MASS MEDIA, SOCIAL NETWORKS AND SOURCES OF INFORMATION DISSEMINATION

Abstract

Today it seems quite common to take pictures of historical monuments, urban sculptures, art paintings in museums. All of the listed works are objects of fine art. At the same time, just a few people think how legitimate it is to subsequently use the photos taken: can they be posted on social networks on the personal pages? Is it acceptable to reproduce them in the media? Is it possible to produce consumer goods (t-shirts, key chains, badges, postcards, etc.), etc., based on these images?

As it turns out from the point of view of the current legislation everything is not so simple. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of court cases on this issue. This problem became the subject of discussion at one of the meetings of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Intellectual Property Rights Cour [1, p. 11].

Some countries are aware of such a legal regime of free use of works of art as panorama exception or freedom of panorama, which implies the non-contractual use of works of art, i.e. without the permission of the authors (copyright holders) located in the public places. The Civil Code of the Russian Federation also provides for the free use of art works that are openly located in public places: parks, streets, museums, etc. However, free use by reproduction and distribution, including in photographs, is only possible under certain conditions. Otherwise, a user must apply for permission from the copyright holder.

Among other things, in cases where the object in which the work of fine art is expressed — a painting, sculpture, engraving, etc., belongs to the museum, included in the Museum Fund of the Russian Federation and located in the museums of the Russian Federation, it is also necessary to request permission from the museum. Failure to comply with these requirements leads to a violation of the rights of both copyright holders and museums.

This article analyzes the features of the reproduction and distribution of fine art works in the media, social networks and other sources of information dissemination in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation. The approaches of free use of works in some foreign jurisdictions are considered.