One question we get asked frequently is how this works — what kind of agreements are needed in terms of copyright, ownership of images, and that kind of thing. Given the complexities of ownership and digital rights, there is no one-size-fits-all strategy. Accordingly, we welcome three levels of participation:

Level 1

You can download and use our software on your own watermarks. It’s free and open source. We own nothing, post nothing, and you retain all rights to your images (of course) and to everything you create using our software. We do ask that you reference us when and if you publish. We will try to help if you get stuck using the software. Our hope is that as you get comfortable with the process, you’ll see the advantages of further collaboration.

Level 2

You can ask us to examine your Leonardo (or other) watermark images. We will provide feedback about the watermarks, the suitability of the images, and any potential moldmates that we may discover. Again, you retain all rights to your images, but we ask that you allow us to use the output of our software. If the results are cool, maybe you would want to publish a joint article highlighting the discoveries?

Level 3

You can ask us to examine your Leonardo (or other) images or watermarks, including de-noising if surface images are available. We would provide feedback about their watermarks and about possible matches throughout our Leonardo or other databases. Our goal in Level 3 is to continue to build up the Leonardo database, so we ask that you allow us to add the images and data to the LEOcode site. This is how, together, we can discover more and more about Leonardo’s papers, about his work, and about his times.

We are hoping to get people comfortable with Level 3, but the first two allow for easy entry and building up trust and confidence in the process. If you have any questions, or want to talk about watermarks, chain lines, or laid lines, be sure to contact us at contact@leocode.org