Wikipedia must delete photos

The Mannheim Reiss-Engelhorn Museums were successful in a legal dispute against a Wikipedia user. The court prohibited the use of photos depicting exhibits from the museum.

Milan Bruchter / Shutterstock.com

The defendant user was active on a voluntary basis in the German-language Wikipedia and in the central media archive "Wikipedia Commons". Wikipedia Commons is an international free collection of images, videos and audio files. The database is linked with Wikipedia and other projects. These are incorporated directly into Wikipedia from the database. Furthermore, commercial use of the image material available there is permitted.

The Wikipedia user uploaded several photos to Wikipedia Commons showing public domain paintings and other exhibits. All exhibits were the property of the museums. After the upload, the photos were publicly accessible.

The uploaded photos were partly taken by the museums' house photographer. The Wikipedia user also took photos of the objects in the exhibition rooms, even though photography was restricted under the museums' house rules. A pre-action warning notice was unsuccessful.

Court decision – Wikipedia must delete photos

By judgment of 27.03.2016 (17 O 690/15) the LG Stuttgart prohibited the use of the photos on grounds of copyright and property infringement.

The court confirmed that the photos of the exhibits constitute independently created copyright-protected photographic works and are not reproductions. The court rejected any restriction of photographic protection by virtue of the public domain status of the photographed objects. There is no need to treat independently created photographic images of, for example, a painting as public domain.

The use of the photographic images taken by the Wikipedia user himself constitutes, in the court's view, a violation of property rights. The owner is affected in his property rights by the use of photographs of his property taken without his permission. The museums' claim for an injunction follows from the fact that the depicted objects were the property of the museums at the time the photographs were taken, they were not freely accessible and the museums had not granted explicit permission for photography or for subsequent publication on Wikipedia Commons under a free licence.

Conclusion

Even if artworks are in the public domain and can be freely used, the use of their depictions can nonetheless be prohibited. If the photographs are lawful, they themselves are protected as photographic works under copyright law. Furthermore, the owner of the artwork can prohibit photography, so that corresponding photos may not be used.