John Maeda's blog

Fruit as IP

When are you allowed to take out a digital camera in a restaurant? I'm no longer sure.

John Maeda 10/07/2007

  • 2 Comments

While traveling in Korea, I encountered this lovely display of melons in a hotel restaurant. As I took out my camera to snap a picture, a person came out to tell me I was not allowed to photograph it. But it was too late. The deed was done.

First of all, I wasn't sure why I shouldn't have taken the photo. Was there some kind of intellectual property associated with this arrangement? In an age when cameras are so ubiquitous, to tell someone they can't take a picture seems a bit odd to me. Especially at a restaurant. I can understand if random people might be standing in the photo; they deserve their privacy. Many museums have given up trying to stop visitors from taking photos of artworks and artifacts. So why this restaurant? Unfortunately, I couldn't speak the language and now am guilty of some crime. I hope this post absolves me.

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freekdestoute

1 Comment

  • 1580 Days Ago
  • 10/18/2007

IP, privacy and light

You raise an interesting issue with this funny post.  Musea used to forbid photographs because of the risk of damaging the paint of art works, by continuous flash lights. Always suspected them of just wanting to force visitors to buy expensive postcards of art work, flash ON or OFF ;)

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Wolf_Halton

1 Comment

  • 1490 Days Ago
  • 01/16/2008

Fruit as IP

You didn't mention if it was a restaurant inside a museum, or if the fruit was ancient and would be irreparably damaged by the flash...

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Bio

John Maeda is a world-renowned graphic designer, visual artist, and computer scientist and is a founding voice for “simplicity” in the digital age. From June 2008 he becomes the 16th President of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD).

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