In the late nineteenth century, jurists debated whether photographs could be protected under copyright statutes originally drafted for literary and artistic works. Skeptics argued that photography was a purely mechanical process governed by chemical reactions and optics, thereby lacking authorial creativity. Proponents countered that a photographer exercises aesthetic judgment in selecting the subject, arranging the lighting, determining the angle, and timing the exposure. In resolving this dispute, high courts reasoned that although the camera itself operates mechanically, the resulting photograph embodies the intellectual conception of the photographer whenever these deliberate aesthetic choices are present. Consequently, copyright protection was extended only to those photographs that demonstrate tangible evidence of such creative decisions, rather than those produced merely by automated recording apparatuses.
Which one of the following is most strongly supported by the passage?
- ANineteenth-century courts held that the physical operation of optical lenses inherently constitutes a form of creative intellectual labor.
- BSkeptics of photographic copyright conceded that adjusting camera angles alone was sufficient to establish authorial creativity.
- Under the legal standard articulated by the courts, images produced by automated recording devices devoid of human aesthetic decisions were ineligible for copyright protection.Answer
- DAll nineteenth-century legal jurisdictions required photographers to submit detailed written records of their lighting arrangements before granting copyright.
- EProponents of photographic copyright maintained that chemical reactions during development occurred independently of human input.