[Leica] Copyright questions

["Rodgers, David" <david.rodgers@xo.com>]

I'd like to throw this out for discussion. 

I just had a friend call me up with a concern. She photographed a sculpture
and entered the photograph in a national competition. She won an merit award
for the photograph. The photograph was to go on display. She began to wonder
about copyright. Can she display the photograph of the sculpture without
having to get a signed release by the sculptor? 

Just to be safe she contacted the gallery owner to try and track down the
artist. Apparently the artist is famous, but does not live in the USA and is
also not easy to contact. The gallery owner said the work was "heavily
copyrighted" (I'm a bit confused by that. US Copyright isn't something you
apply for, is it? An artist can't copyright one piece of work more than
another. Copyright can only be released, not increased, correct?)

The sculpture was not photographed in the gallery. It was owned by a private
party. The current owner gave the photographer permission to take the
photograph. Wouldn't this fall under "fair use"?  

It seems to me if this is an issue any person taking a photograph with a
sculpture in the frame could be infringing on copyright.  

Dave