PERMISSION GRANTED

NUMISMATIC PUBLISHING

by Benjamin J. Keele R1170947

A
NUMISMATIST IS reading the
latest issue of his favorite
coin publication and comes
across an ar ticle that is
a perfect resource for a pres-
entation he is giving at his
local coin club next week. He would
like to photocopy the article and share
it with fellow members, but, he also is
aware of copyright law and is con-
cerned about violating the author’s
rights. Perhaps the writer wouldn’t
mind if his article was copied, but

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO/CHRIS REED

how would the reader ever know?
Those who mark their publications or
photographs with advance copyright
permissions or licenses can help solve
this dilemma.
Copyright law automatically grants
authors a set of privileges over their
creative works. These privileges in-
clude making, distributing or selling
copies, and making derivative works
(that is, additional works that are  Copyright law automatically grants authors and photographers certain privi-
largely based on the first one, such as leges. However, copyrights can be modified to let the originators of the work
translations or revisions). The pur- signal their willingness to let others duplicate their material.
pose of these copyright privileges is to
give authors economic incentives to (A doctrine called “fair use” allows material, from finding each other.
produce valuable content. Since copy- others to use works without permis- Fortunately, there is another way
right applies automatically, a reader sion and without violating copyright, authors can let others know how their
usually must track down the origina- but it is rather complicated and some- works may be used. By marking per-
tor of the material and request per- times unreliable.) So, the copyright missions in a copyright notice, au-
mission to duplicate it. system may prevent authors who wish thors can signal their willingness to
T his requirement often de ters to share their work, and readers who allow others to use their material. For
readers from even bothering to ask. want to copy, distribute or adapt the example, the notice might read V

w w w . m o n e y . o r g M A R C H 2 0 1 0 • T H E N U M I S M A T I S T 51
 These limitations certainly work, but the notice can get rather
long and unwieldy if the author tries to be too specific.
I L L U S T R AT I O N : W W W. C R E AT I V E C O M M O N S . O R G

PHOTO: ISTOCKPHOTO/BARNABÁS FÜZES

 Before duplicating publications, such as a numismatic article, check the copyright. An example of a Creative Commons
copyright allows users to go online to read more about the specific copyright’s permissions and limitations.

“Copyright 2000 John Doe. Permis-
sion is granted for noncommer-
cial reproduction.”
Many conditions and specifications
can be placed on this permission, such
as those requiring attribution or notifi-
cation of the author; allowing only
noncommercial or educational uses;
requiring that the work be reprinted in
its entirety; or allowing no more than a
set number of copies. These limita-
tions certainly work, but the notice
can get rather long and unwieldy if the
author tries to be too specific.
For authors or photographers will-
ing to share their work, “Creative
Commons” licenses are useful. Cre-
ative Commons is an organization
that develops copyright licenses, such
as those used by the popular online
reference Wikipedia. These licenses
basically are legal forms that people
“attach” to the work by adding a refer-
ence to the license in the copyright
notice. The reference includes a Web
address that directs the reader to the
full text of the license, which is rela-
tively long, specific and thorough.
The licenses have a major advantage
over permissions listed in the copy-
right notice: adding the license lets
you use a detailed legal form without
taking up a lot of space.
Creative Commons licenses can
impose four, different conditions that
can be mixed and matched to create
six, different licenses. The condi-
tions are:
Attribution: To receive permis-
sion, users must give the author or
photographer credit in whatever form
he prefers.
Noncommercial: Permission to
copy, distribute, etc., is granted only
for noncommercial purposes.
Share Alike: Permission is given to
make derivative works (such as trans-
lating an article into another lan-
guage) only if the new work has the
same license as the original.
No Derivative Works: Permission
is not given for derivative works; thus,
only verbatim copies can be used.
A few examples may elucidate the
utility and application of these li-
censes. Imagine a numismatist has
published an article about a new coin
club program in a regional journal.
He has licensed the article under
a Creative Commons “Attribution–
Noncommercial” license. If the editor
of a local coin club newsletter reads
the article and wants to copy it, he can
immediately see that he has permis-
sion to reprint as long as he gives
the author credit and runs the article
only in a noncommercial publication
(highly likely, if it is published by a
local coin club). However, if a coin
dealer wishes to reprint the article in
one of his mailings to clients, he
would not have automatic permission
to do so.
Now let’s say a collector photo-
graphs many coins in his collection
and posts them on his personal web-
site. The high-resolution images are
licensed under a Creative Commons
“Attribution–No Derivative Works” li-
cense. Because the photographs are
high quality, others could use them to

52 T H E N U M I S M A T I S T • M A R C H 2 0 1 0 w w w . m o n e y . o r g
 So, while licenses are not completely permanent, authors should be
reasonably comfortable with them before adopting them.
illustrate their articles, books or web-
sites—both commercial and noncom-
mercial—as long as they give credit to
the collector. However, the “No Deriv-
ative Works” provision means permis-
sion is given as long as the images are
used in whole and unaltered.
Finally, assume a collector pro-
duces, as a labor of love, a short trea-
tise on an obscure numismatic topic.
He wants to share his book with fel-
low collectors, but does not want to
spend the cash on a small print run.
He could license the book under an
“Attribution–Share Alike” license and
then post it on a website, where other
hobbyists could download and/or
print it. Years later, still another col-
lector could revise and update the
book and then publish a second edi-
tion, as long as the original author is
credited and the new edition is li-
censed with the same Attribution-
Share Alike license, ensuring that the
latter publication can be obtained as
easily as the first one.
Three, important points should be
made here. First, upon request, and on
a case-by-case basis, an author can
give permission for a use that is be-
yond the permissions granted in the
license. Second, authors who adopt
licenses do not waive their copyrights.
Actually, they can use licenses to lev-
erage their copyright to increase con-
trol over the use of their works. (For
instance, U.S. copyright law contains
no right of attribution, but by putting
an attribution condition in the license,
anyone who uses the work is more
likely to credit the author.)
Finally, as a matter of fairness, the
permissions should be irrevocable
for the copies that are marked by the
author. (Creative Commons specifi-
cally provides for this.) This is only
fitting—if the license were revocable,
a disingenuous author could license
a work, wait for a bunch of people to
make copies, and then revoke the
w w w . m o n e y . o r g
license and demand money. If an
author changed his mind about licens-
ing a work, he could remove the license,
but any copies made under the license
would be legitimate. So, while licenses
are not completely permanent, authors
should be reasonably comfortable with
them before adopting them.
These licenses probably are best-
suited for authors with no expectation
of monetary gain from their works.
However, granting licenses and permis-
sions is not necessarily inconsistent
 An invitation to ”Look Closer” at
a coin on a website isn’t an open invi-
tation to copy the image. Read the
copyright license, and when in doubt,
ask for permission.
with commercial sale of content. Sev-
eral university presses, for example,
have experimented with adopting a li-
cense for the digital version of books
while still selling their hard-copy
counterparts. By permitting people to
download, copy and read the books
online, the publishers hope to in-
crease promotion of the book, and,
since many readers still prefer paper
for focused reading, boost hard-copy
sales. An author could publish a work
M A R C H
under a license and then sell another
version with additional material or
features. So, regardless of whether the
author hopes to make money off his
works, express licenses and permis-
sions may be useful.
Copyright law gives authors special
privileges over the creative works they
produce. Numismatic scholarship
may benefit from authors who
thoughtfully choose to grant permis-
sion for certain uses of their works
that may otherwise violate their copy-
right. While fair use and granting per-
mission on a case-by-case basis also
allow reuse of works, expressly grant-
ing permission in advance by a Cre-
P H O T O : H E R I TA G E A U C T I O N G A L L E R I E S
ative Commons license or by specific
language in the copyright notice can
greatly reduce the burden on users
and increase their confidence in the
legitimacy of reuse.
The flexibility bestowed by copy-
right permissions can increase the
circulation of ideas, spread knowl-
edge and lead to beneficial uses the
originator might not have imagined.
Creative Commons has developed
licenses for other countries, so these
options are not limited to the United
States. Given numismatics’ ethos of
education and sharing, relaxed copy-
right rules through Creative Com-
mons licensing may accrue many
long-lasting benefits for numisma-
tic authors, photographers and the
hobby community. O
This work contains general legal
information. The author is not a li-
censed attorney and cannot provide
specific legal advice. This article is
licensed under the Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License. For
more information, visit the U.S. Copy-
right Office (www.copyright.gov) and
Creative Commons (www.creative
commons.org), or write to Creative
Commons, 171 Second St., Suite 300,
San Francisco, CA 94105.
2 0 1 0 • T H E N U M I S M A T I S T 53