Piracy & Copyright Law in the Collodion Era

Third Thursday, May 19: Piracy

The Third Thursday Program for May 19 at 7 pm is Image Piracy and Copyright Law in the Collodion Era, by Heather S. Sonntag.

By 1852, the term "piracy" was used against photographers who not only pilfered images from others but also changed authorship to reflect their own studio handiwork. This talk will discuss the practice of appropriation using rich illustrations and global examples, and present a brief history on the dicey interpretations of copyright laws that continue to challenge photography to the present day.

Heather S. Sonntag earned her doctoral degree at the UW-Madison in 2011, researching the early history of Russian photography and albums on colonial Central Asia. She has presented her research at national and international conferences, has curated local and international exhibitions. She is works at the Wisconsin Historical Society, is founder of the Photographic Discussion Group, and recently started dabbling in cyanotypes.