[INDOLOGY] NGMCP images and copyright law

Harry Spier vasishtha.spier at gmail.com
Mon Apr 11 13:13:26 UTC 2022


Thank you Dr. Michaels,
Its my understanding that the NGMCP project started around 1970, so some of
the photographs/microfilm were taken over 50 years ago. That makes me
wonder if by international copyright law, some of the earlier images are
not already legally in the public domain.

I think for books, if the copyright is owned by an individual then the
copyright expires 50 or 75 years after the authors death, but if the
copyright is owned by a government then the copyright expires 50 or 75
years after the date of publication.  (I'm not sure if this is by
international copyright law or just by Indian copyright law) and I'm
wondering if it is the same case for photographs/microfilm. I.e. copyright
expires 50 or 75 years after the photograph was taken.
Harry Spier


On Mon, Apr 11, 2022 at 4:38 AM Michaels, Prof. Dr. Axel <
michaels at hcts.uni-heidelberg.de> wrote:

> As far as I know, National Archives Nepal does not allow the NGMPP
> microfilms or any scans  from manuscripts or documents to go online. The
> reason ist the same as Jonathan mentioned: they want to make money. The
> situation is terribly complicated and many colleagues have suffered from
> it. However, you can always ask for a permission to publish the copies, and
> the South Asia Institute branch office of Heidelberg University in Patan is
> ready to give you assistance: see here:
> https://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/kathmandu/
>
>
>
> What we do in our project on cataloguing and editing  historical documents
> from the NGMPP collection (https://abhilekha.adw.uni-heidelberg.de;
> https://nepalica.hadw-bw.de/nepal/catitems/searchpage but unfortunately
> today not reachable due to maitenance work), we publish images under a
> special agreement with a low resolution .
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Axel
>
>
>
>
>
> __________________________________________________
>
>
>
> [image: cats]
>
> *Prof. Dr. Axel Michaels*
>
> Senior Professor
>
> Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies (CATS)
>
> Südasien-Institut / South Asia Institute
>
> Universität Heidelberg
>
>
>
> Vossstr. 2, Geb. 4130
>
> D-69115 Heidelberg
>
>
>
> T: +49-6221-5415209
>
> E: michaels at hcts.uni-heidelberg.de
>
> W: https://www.sai.uni-heidelberg.de/krs/abteilung/michaels.html
>
>       www.hadw-bw.de/nepal.html,
> https://www.hadw-bw.de/en/research/research-center/nepal-heritage-documentation-project-nhdp
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> *From: *INDOLOGY <indology-bounces at list.indology.info> on behalf of "
> indology at list.indology.info" <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Reply to: *Harry Spier <vasishtha.spier at gmail.com>
> *Date: *Sunday, 10. April 2022 at 14:56
> *To: *"indology at list.indology.info" <indology at list.indology.info>
> *Subject: *[INDOLOGY] NGMCP images and copyright law
>
>
>
> Dear list members,
>
> Does anyone know, if according to international copyright law, the
> manuscript images of the  NGMCP (Nepal German Manuscript Cataloguing
> project) will eventually go into public domain. And if so, when.  Or do the
> agreements signed between the project and the Nepal government supercede
> this, and the Nepal government has copyright for the images forever.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Harry Spier
>
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