Harvard, Researcher Reaches Settlement in Copyright Infringement Suit

A settlement has been reached in a copyright infringement lawsuit between the University and Steve Elmore, a researcher of native American pottery, after a district court judge in New Mexico ruled that he violated his contract with one of Harvard’s museums.

In June 2015, Harvard filed suit against Elmore alleging copyright infringement, breach of contract, and violation of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology’s trademark policies. Elmore had been researching at the Peabody to complete a manuscript of his book, “In Search of Nampeyo: The Early Years 1875-1892.”

At issue in the suit was whether Elmore broke copyright laws by commissioning the illustration of Native American pottery from the Peabody Museum for his book.

After a district court judge ruled against Harvard’s copyright infringement claim, Elmore called the suit against him “frivolous and vindictive without merit.”

The same district court judge ruled at the end of August that Elmore had violated his contract with the museum when he published over 100 illustrations of pottery he had photographed for his research.

Consequently, the court directed Elmore to pay Harvard $10,000. At a settlement conference, Harvard waived that fee and encouraged Elmore to donate to a Native American charity.

“The Peabody Museum has been committed to the study of native art from around the world, most notably the American southwest, for more than a century,” Jeffrey Quilter, director of the Peabody, said in a press release. “We believe in open access for researchers, but also stand by the claim that photographs taken for research purposes should be used for just that: research. We are grateful that the court agreed with our position, enabling the important scholarship that takes place each day at the Museum to go forward.”

Elmore filed a series of counterclaims over the course of the lawsuit, one of which alleged that that Harvard had wrongfully declined to publish his manuscript. The federal court dismissed all of Elmore’s counterclaims except one, according to Harvard’s press release, which requested a $257 travel reimbursement from Harvard. Elmore dropped the claim after the settlement conference.

During the course of the suit, an injunction was placed on Elmore’s book, preventing copies of the book from being disseminated. That injunction has since been lifted.

Elmore’s book will return to print with the caveat that he include a statement in his book explicitly stating that photographs attributed to the Peabody Museum were published without the museum’s permission.

“I believe this suit against me should not have been filed,” Elmore wrote in a press release. “I would have gladly included Harvard’s one-page letter, which will now appears in each copy of the book, at Harvard’s request long ago.”

In a separate email to The Crimson in September, Elmore was sharply critical of Harvard’s suit, calling it a “twenty month long nightmare.”

“It all feels now like a bad fraternity prank mixed with a New England witch hunt,” Elmore wrote.

—Staff writer Brandon J. Dixon can be reached at brandon.dixon@thecrimson.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrandonJoDixon.