Commons:Deletion requests/Files in Category:Jay Matternes

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Files in Category:Jay Matternes

It is well established here that a work that is located in a Federal building or was commissioned by the Federal government may or may not be PD. In order to qualify as PD US Gov, it must be shown that the artist was a Federal employee at the time of creation. See, for example, the note at Category:Official presidential painted portraits in the White House.

The creator of this work, Jay Matternes is not now and apparently never was an employee of the Federal government. While it is possible that these works is PD No Notice or PD No Renewal, I note that Matternes has 121 entries in the USCO post-1977 database of registrations and renewals, which strongly suggests that he pays attention to copyright.

. Jim . . . (Jameslwoodward) (talk to me) 15:17, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Before starting an unnecessary wave of destruction, we should ask Jay Matternes for an OTRS permission. I am going to write an email to him. Sciencia58 (talk) 18:07, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

In the case of File:Stegomastodon mirificus - Smithsonian.JPG, the artwork is partially visible in the background, is not well displayed, and is incidental to the unrelated subject of the photo, which is of a fossil gomphothere skeleton. In every other example listed, the artwork is the subject of the photo. While I suppose the artwork could be blanked out if needed, in this case that hardly seems necessary. WolfmanSF (talk) 18:33, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

https://www.livescience.com/40352-cenozoic-era.html Sciencia58 (talk) 22:36, 8 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

The artist is living and has website http://www.jay-matternes.com/ which has email link. Has anyone contacted the artist? Ellin Beltz (talk) 23:19, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I agree: Wait for input from the artist. I suspect that many, of not all, of the works will be adjudged public domain. Valerius Tygart (talk) 00:11, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Some others of these images were deleted before, so I will step back and let others decide. On the other hand, if the files above are kept, the previously deleted files should be restored. FunkMonk (talk) 16:30, 10 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I wrote an email to Jay Matternes a few days ago. He has alreadey answered very friendly. The context "Wikimedia" was new to him. He asked for the reason of my request. I just wrote an explanation and sent the licence template to him, in case he agrees. Sciencia58 (talk) 08:19, 14 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I just received an email from Jay Matterns. Sad news: He refuses to give us a licence. Sciencia58 (talk) 07:08, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

But do we know if he was commissioned by the federal government at the time? FunkMonk (talk) 11:51, 17 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

His answer to my first email:

"Dear ..., in reference to your email of November 8, 2019, I have not had time to the present to check the website you referenced, but I assume that the subject of your inquiry is the rights to the six murals of fossil mammals which I painted on commission for the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., discontinuously from 1960 to 1975. To be brief: I have never been a salaried employee of the federal government i.e., I have never held a civil service position; and I have been a full-time, free-lance artist / illustrator since 1960. I registered each of these murals for copyright in my name with the U.S. Copyright Office, Library of Congress, as soon as I completed each commission. Accordingly, while the Smithsonian owns the actual murals, I own all reproduction rights to these works, since copyright is a separate right from the actual physical paintings.

I hope that answers your question.

Sincerely,

Jay H. Matternes"

Ok, that's pretty clear. FunkMonk (talk) 12:50, 18 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I've removed the painting from the background of File:Stegomastodon mirificus - Smithsonian.JPG and thus have removed it from the list above. If someone wants to, they can delete the old version from Commons. WolfmanSF (talk) 08:30, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

I think it fell under Commons:de minimis to begin with, but now there's no issue. FunkMonk (talk) 13:22, 19 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted: per nomination. --Sebari – aka Srittau (talk) 10:15, 26 February 2020 (UTC)[reply]