<p>I run a non-profit designed to expose high school students to 3D printing and entrepreneurship. The concept is based on pop-up shop-style sales of 3D printed trinkets, toys, artifacts, etc.</p>
<p>Can I legally sell models we print from the many open source and publicly available museum collections that are available on the internet? Example - a 3D scan of Rodin's &quot;The Thinker&quot; or the British Museum's publically available .stl of the Rosetta stone.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that these artifacts are in the public domain as they are much older than 1930 though the .stl scans may not be?</p>
<p>Keep in mind I am a fully licensed 501c3 non-profit organization.</p>
<p>Wondering if there are any good places to find fully licensed models that we could sell without having to worry about copyright infringement.</p>

[{'answer_id': 19487, 'author': 'Kilisi', 'author_id': 31811, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/31811', 'pm_score': 1, 'selected': False, 'text': "<p>Just read the license that comes with the STL. Most I have seen prohibit commercial use without permission.</p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>good places to find fully licensed models that we could sell without having to worry about copyright infringement.</p>\n</blockquote>\n<p>Draw them yourself and there's no issues. Or buy the commercial licenses.</p>\n"}, {'answer_id': 19489, 'author': 'Trish', 'author_id': 8884, 'author_profile': 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/8884', 'pm_score': 2, 'selected': False, 'text': "<h1>Not all museum pieces are out of copyright!</h1>\n<p>Let's start with a general primer: an Artwork is out of copyright if it was made by someone that died more than about 70 years ago. For items created by companies a different rule applies.</p>\n<p>When the copyright on an artwork lapses, anyone can reproduce it.</p>\n<p>However, not all items in museums are out of copyright: Auguste Rodin died in 1917 and thus is <em>free game</em>, but Eva Hesse only died in 1970, so her works will only be out of copyright in 2040 or later!</p>\n<h2>STLs are all under copyright!</h2>\n<p>However, the STLs are <strong>not</strong> the artwork, they are a separate artwork that was made by someone that most likely is very much still alive - or at least are still in the protection period.</p>\n<p>To use the STL you thus need to acquire a license <strong>from the author of the STL.</strong> Most freely available STLs are with a license that is &quot;Non commercial&quot; and bans commercial use, so you need to inquire about a commercial license.</p>\n"}]
['https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/19485', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com', 'https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/users/34336/']