NEMO publish museum copyright survey report 28 Sep 2015

NEMO - the Network of European Museum Organisations - has published the results of a survey of museum professionals across Europe about the management of copyright within their museums. The report concludes that the European legislative framework is confusing and unhelpful for museums, and there is very little standard practice across museums.

The report recommends seeking changes to EU legislation to ensure that museums are able to make more of their collection available to the public, particularly online, without having to undergo resource-intensive rights clearances. The survey provided evidence of museums being charged to re-use works in their collections for non-commercial purposes, and how standard licences are not technology neutral and therefore fit poorly within greater digital use of museum collections.

The report also demonstrated that there is a huge variation in how museums manage the process of copyright management within their organisation, including the challenges and opportunities that arise from negotiating rights agreements directly with a work's creator or through a collecting society.

The report can be downloaded here and further information about NEMO is available on their website.