In 1998, the late Paul Allen of Microsoft paid a group of students and faculty from Stanford and the University of Washington to travel to Florence to obtain 3D scans of sculptures by Michelangelo. The group’s primary focus was David, now housed inside the Galleria dell’Accademia. It obtained scan data occupying sixty gigabytes of digital storage, from which, using a 3D printer, one can create extraordinarily accurate copies of the sculptures.

The question soon became, who controls the project’s data? When the work was completed, Marc Levoy, who has since retired from Stanford’s Computer Science faculty, appointed himself guardian. Access is now determined by his opinion of both the scholarly bona fides and the planned uses of those seeking it.

Cosmo Wenman, an artist in San Diego, uses 3D scans of well-known sculptural works to create copies and montages in diverse media. Wenman advocates for institutions making their scans available to the public, but he was unable to obtain Stanford’s David scan data because Levoy had promised Italian officials the exclusive rights to commercial use of Stanford’s scan.

When I asked Levoy about the terms of this agreement, he demurred, claiming it was a “sensitive matter.” When I subsequently raised the issue with Stanford’s Office of Legal Counsel, one of the University’s intellectual property attorneys promised to talk with Levoy. But Stanford ultimately made no change to Levoy’s control over the project data; nor did it offer legal or ethical basis for