Can a picture of a Rembrandt painting or anything in that is in the public domain be copyrighted?

Question

Can a picture/photograph that was not altered and only depicts something that is already in the public domain such as a Rembrandt painting be placed under copyright protection?

In the case of Rogers v. Koons where by Jeff Koons took a copyrighted picture by Rogers and transformed it into a statue, Judge Cadamone found that changing the medium of the subject was not enough change to make it unrecognizable from the original picture and therefore was a copyright infringement.
Now I must wonder in the reveres case, where something that is already in the public domain and all you do is change the medium, is that a substantial enough change to be able to once again copyright it under your own name?
Or more to the point, if I find a photograph of a classical painting on the internet can I use that photograph on my own site with out asking for permission from the photo owner? Or could that photograph of something that is in the public domain be copyrighted? He has only changed the medium...?

Answer 1

The general answer is yes, but the copyright protection would only extend to the particular photographic expression. Thus, you can "copy the original, but cannot copy the copy." So, if someone take a picture of say, the Rembrandt, you yourself could take a picture of the same painting without violating copyright law, but you could probably not take the first picture and run it off on the copier.
(On the other hand, if there's no "originality" whatsoever in the picture, a court may find that it's not subject to copyright protection.)

Answer 2

In short, the answer is YES. There are several conditions to be met, but yes it is possible. There is a hornbook on copyrights and patents that is decent. I can't remember the name, but it's printed by West Publishing. Call your local law library and ask. Their reference librarian will know which one it is.