copyright of types

[Thomas at]

I find this discussion fascinating. I haven't seen the following issue
addressed. Where do the type specimens that museums hold come from? They
come from us - working scientists engaged in taxonomic work. If a museum
is going to derive economic benefit from the use of images of the types
we deposit, is it possible that some biologists would contract to
deposit types at a particular institution if they paid royalties when
the type generated income? This would be similar to the royalties paid
to musicians and actors when their work appears on radio or television.
I realize that this may be a bit far-fetched, but who knows?

Or is it possible that this might lead to the fragmentation of
collections? If this practice is used in a very narrow sense that would
lead to increased costs of doing science or reduced circulation of
material for scientific investigation, might some folks decide to keep
specimens in their own collections, or establish small institional
collections, under their control, in order to retain access to material
that they found and described? If museums take a strict stand on using
these materials there may be some unfortunate unintended consequences.

I agree that this policy, as it has been outlined in this recent
exchange, has the potential to cause problems for taxonomic and
systematic studies. I would be opposed to any policy that would reduce
the free flow of information for the advancement of our understanding of
the natural world. I would hope that some of the people who have
instituted these policies would offer their interpretation and how they
would impact working taxonomists and others biologists who use the work
that we do.
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