Even when the museum doesn't allow photography?
In the case of travelling exhibits, as the Hatshepsut exhibit at NYC's Met about three years ago, I think the Met would be hard-pressed to prove I'd taken the pictures in their museum. I also don't know of any precedent having been set by a museum (especially the Met) of suing a visitor for taking a couple of pics on the sly. Especially if the non-flash pictures were harmless to the exhibit. What sort of "damages" could the museum prove? The most they could do, is throw me out for breaking their rules, as one museum did to Maty. And, as a publicly funded museum, I'd like to see them try it.
I think the Met (and other publicly funded institutions) would be asking for more trouble than it's worth, if I and other taxpayers should decide to make a class action issue of such policies. Anybody who receives public funding -- our money -- is, ultimately, answerable to the taxpayers.
-- Nephele
I don't see anything like that happen either, but it was more of a theoretical question.
Do you own full rights to a picture that was taken when it was specifically forbidden to do so?
I'm guessing if you were make a book out of your pictures and publish it, you would get sued, and rightly so.