USPS' Photo of Monument = Copyright Infringement?

[☭proletarian☭]

Frank Gaylord, now 85, won a government-sponsored contest to sculpt a memorial to Korean War veterans in Washington, D.C. all the way back in 1990. The memorial he eventually built, which you can see here, drew the attention of John Alli, a retired U.S. Marine and an amateur photographer. In 1995, Alli took hundreds of photographs of the memorial on a snowy day and eventually produced a single, haunting photo. In 2002, the federal government paid Alli $1,500 to use his photo as the basis for a 37-cent postage stamp.

An 85-Year-Old Sculptor vs. The Government

 

[xotoxi]

I don't really understand this...

Did the artist design and build the monument all by himself? Does he still own the monument? Are people forbidden to photograph the monument?

Or was he essentially commissioned by the government to design the monument, and then the government built it and now owns it?

As I see it, an artist who is commissioned to produce art for the ownership of another gives up the copyrights of that art.

 

[beowolfe]

I don't think this is IP infringement, but I think the USPS, just like the paid the photographer, should pay the guy something especially if he didn't get anything when he originally designed the monument.

 

[del]

I don't think this is IP infringement, but I think the USPS, just like the paid the photographer, should pay the guy something especially if he didn't get anything when he originally designed the monument.

he was paid $775,000 on commision.

 

[beowolfe]

I don't think this is IP infringement, but I think the USPS, just like the paid the photographer, should pay the guy something especially if he didn't get anything when he originally designed the monument.

he was paid $775,000 on commision.

If that's true, then this is just being plain ole greedy.