Oakland elementary school students resist Caltrans' insistence on taking copyright to their mural

Cory Doctorow 9:39 am Thu Apr 27, 2017

Rogue archivist Rick Prelinger writes, "Oakland students planned to paint a mural on a dark freeway underpass in their city. The project is stalled because Caltrans asserts copyright to murals on its property. The details are a bit sketchy, but there's a petition here.

So far three have already been completed with no problems from Caltrans until this year.

"Right now Caltrans legal department has pretty much put a block on production of our 4th mural," said Amana Harris, with Attitudinal Healing Connection

Harris is the Executive Director of AHC and says Caltrans wants exclusive copyright of the mural.

But Harris says the rights aren't theirs to give, since the students, the non-profit, professional artists and others all take part-ownership of the piece.

"It's a very collaborative process and I think that Caltrans understands that and so I don't know why this is a problem," said Harris.

"Art is peace!" The kids designed the mural and professional artists were supposed to paint in March but #Caltrans is delaying the project pic.twitter.com/HJGQKGrMt2

— Kate Larsen (@KateABC7) April 26, 2017

ELEMENTARY STUDENTS PROTEST MURAL BEING BLOCKED BY CALTRANS OVER COPYRIGHTING
[Kate Larsen/ABC 7 News]

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