Rights & Reproduction

The trustees of the Collections, and their designated Agent(s) shall manage and administer the intellectual property rights, including copyrights, trademarks and reproduction rights connected to each work of art and artist in the Collection. Artworks may be reproduced in print and in online scholarly, school or collection catalogs and publications in compliance with federal law and the laws of the State of Connecticut, with fees or monies received from rights and reproduction permissions used for the benefit of the Collections and its goals.

Images and texts may be reproduced without prior permission only for purposes of temporary use, private study, scholarship, or research. Those using these images and texts assume all responsibility for questions of copyright and privacy that may arise.

Copyrighted and Public Domain Images

Not every work of art in the Collections is in the public domain, nor is every image on the WestPAC online site free of restrictions. WestPAC is mindful of its responsibilities concerning the intellectual property rights of others, and WestPAC works to protect images of objects that are believed to be under copyright, to have content protected under rights of publicity or privacy, or to have other restrictions imposed by contract or policy.

The copyright of a work of art itself is distinct from any rights of the photograph/digital image depicting the work (where applicable) and may be held by individuals or entities other than WestPAC. For example, the copyright of a work of art may be held or managed by the artist or the artist’s heirs or representative(s), not by WestPAC.

WestPAC makes available for download presentation sized images of artwork . In spite of one’s best efforts, it may be difficult or impossible to locate the owner of copyright in a work. This may be because the work is anonymous, the company that owned copyright is defunct, it is impossible to trace copyright through multiple bequests and transmissions, or because the copyright owner’s identity is known but the owner or the owner’s representative cannot be located.

Thumbnail-sized images of copyrighted works are displayed under fair use. As a service to the public and the scholarly community, WestPAC may make larger images of copyrighted works available in the online collection catalog with permission of the copyright holder. If you wish to use such images outside the online catalog, the requestor must seek permission from the copyright holder.

When researchers publish or make scholarly use of the Collections, or of research and cataloging materials provided by the Curator or Agent(s), they shall be expected to observe conventions of credit in acknowledgments and footnotes.

The Rights and Reproduction Form must be completed in advance for any use other than personal study or fair use as defined by United States copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). Researchers shall be informed of any restrictions on use or publication of work of art from the Collections and shall sign the the form indicating their understanding of the restrictions. It is also their responsibility to verify or accept any rights information provided as well as to obtain any additional permission or clearances that may be required for works protected by copyright.

General fees per image shall be: Rental Fee $50 per jpg and a Licensing Fee of $250; Fees may be determined on a case by case basis, payable to Town of Westport (Arts Advisory Committee); fees may be waived upon request for scholarly or in school use.