Slides by Marie McFeely, Images and Licensing Officer, National Gallery of Ireland at 'Maximising Digital Creativity, Sharing and Innovation', National Gallery of Ireland, January 2014. Event organised by Creative Commons Ireland and Faculty of Law, University College Cork. http://www.creativecommonsireland.org

1. Providing Access to Content &
Managing Intellectual Property at the
National Gallery of Ireland
Marie McFeely
Images & Licensing Officer,
National Gallery of Ireland
Email: mmcfeely@ngi.ie
LinkedIn: ie.linkedin.com/pub/mcfeelymarie/28/5a7/998/

2. The NGI Mission Statement
“To care for, interpret, develop and showcase
art in a way that makes the National Gallery
of Ireland an exciting place to visit and
provide an outstanding visitor experience
that inspires interest in and an appreciation
of art for all”.

3. Museums and IP
“I.P., in particular copyright has always been
considered inhibitive to museums ability to
carry out their mission and mandate”…
“However, if managed well, IP may hold the
promise of sustaining cultural heritage
programming for museums” – WIPO Guide,
Managing I.P. for Museums by Rina Elster
Pantalony, 2013

4. I.P. is at the core of all NGI activities
Trademark/Logo/Brand
Patents/Trade Secrets
Domain names
Copyright:
Creators
Users
Licensors
Assignees

5. The Challenges of working with ©
23% of the art collection is in ©.
6.5% - orphan works
Tracing Copyright and Legal Compliance
Legal documentation and risk mitigation
Intensive IP Management is essential to our
operation.
Problematic legal issues with copyright – see NGI
submission to the Dept. of Enterprise, Jobs and
Innovation http://www.djei.ie/science/ipr/National_Gallery_of_Ire
land.pdf

6. Engaging with the “Experience
Economy”,
The Traditionalist Stance: “There is always the argument by scholars that museums
should stick to their traditional objectives of preservation, collections access and
scholarship and not to take part in the expectations of consumers in the experience
society”…. WIPO, Managing IP in Museums
Relevance of Museums Today – quality experience.
The drive for access to historic experience and content through digital media.
NGI Public Photography Pilot Scheme – hugely popular with the public
Significant social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and the NGI YouTube Channel
42,340 in 2013.
365,561 virtual visitors to the NGI website bringing visitor numbers to well over 1 million
in 2013.

7. NGI Digital Operations and offering
access to Content
We need to preserve our digital formats to ensure we can
carry out our mission.
Providing high quality digital content is a very labourintensive and costly exercise.
Large cross-departmental digital operation
NGI Website –5 systems including CMS.
http://www.nationalgallery.ie
NGI Images Website – due to launch in February 2014 offers
e-commerce.
http://www.nationalgalleryimages.ie
Print on Demand later in 2014 – kiosks and online.
Additional apps, microsites and digital resources have been
developed or are under development.

8. NGI aims – a balanced approach
Increase access to NGI Collections
Protect and promote the NGI’s IP rights
Harness the economic, communicative and
educational value of IP in the NGI’s activities
Ensure legal compliance and mitigate risk
Respect IP rights of all parties
Ensure the freedom to publish, use and share the
NGI’s own intellectual content in the future