Human knowledge would benefit greatly if images of all works of art in the public domain - i.e. those for which the creator's copyright has expired - were readily available on the web. Scholars pay a high price in reproduction fees to illustrate their articles, while institutions profit from the exposure their collections and archives are given in the pages of scholarly publications. Legal and commercial forces of regulation and licensing are attempting to extend their control over copyright at a time when digital technology makes the dissemination, downloading and reproducing of electronically generated and scanned images easier than it has ever been. Some collections of photographic images of works of art are charging high fees in situations where their right to claim ‘ownership’ is contentious. The author argues, with reference to the work of Robert Baron, that because digitization has made control of intellectual property a for-profit business, the net result could be an undermining of public domain. Subscription deals with non-profit institutions could be a fairer way forward, and ARTstor is cited as a positive example.