Bernard Horrocks

Copyright Officer

Job description

My role is to provide guidance and advice to colleagues not only on copyright law but also on anything relating to the National Portrait Gallery and intellectual property (‘IP’).  My specialist areas are copyright law in general; artistic copyright specifically; creators’ moral rights; artists’ resale right; sitters’ rights in relation to privacy and data protection; database rights; trade marks; design right.  I also advise on contracts and agreements relating to all the above, especially in the procuring and commissioning of new works.  I provide regular training and consultancy for colleagues both within the Gallery, and beyond in a freelance capacity.  Other IP areas I advise on daily are risk assessment, best practice and due diligence.  I am also responsible for the Gallery’s IP Policy.

Biography

I have been in this current role since 2002.  In 2004 I took a Postgraduate Diploma in UK, EU and US Law of Copyright and Related Rights at King’s College London.  Since that time, in addition to developing my role at the Gallery, I have undertaken consultancy work with the Palace of Westminster, British Museum, Museums Sheffield, University of Westminster, University of the Arts London, Paul Mellon Centre, Contemporary Arts Society and the Hepworth Wakefield.

I am a founding member of the Museums Intellectual Property Network (advisory body in IP to National Museum Directors’ Council) and the Museums Copyright Group (a professional e-forum).

On a slightly different topic, I also originated and co-curated the Gallery’s Gay Icons  exhibitions (02 July-18 Oct 2009).

Research interests

Anything to do with the application of intellectual property rights in a cultural heritage environment.  I have recently worked with the Museums Intellectual Property Network gathering evidence for the Hargreaves Review of IP and related Hooper Report.  Day-to-day research includes tracing creators’ descendents and rights holders (sometimes untraceable), as well as ongoing research of the copyright status of works in the collection – which grows daily.  I undertook detailed research into why two clearly in-copyright Gallery portraits were refused copyright registration by the United States Copyright Office.  Departmental research into image licence pricing, undertaken by department head Tom Morgan, has led to a feasibility study for a Museums Digital Content Exchange, detailed in the last phase of the Hooper Report.