Is it legal , ethical or even fair to buy out images in the public domain?

Once something is in the public domain, that's it. No going back. There's no way for anyone to hold "exclusive reproduction rights to images which are not copyrighted, but are in held in the public domain."

I guess they could say they do. I could say I'm the Emperor of Mars.

Our corporate overlords have been successful at privatizing and/or branding everything in sight. Utilities, prisons, school cafeterias, sports and entertainment venues, etc. When the politicians can't give it to them outright, they need to jigger the copyright laws and approval process to give away even that which governments don't own. This is privatization of our cultural heritage. I recall hearing a while back that Gates was trying to figure out how to acquire exclusive rights to public domain literature in electronic form as well.

... corps are going nuts on IP these days. Best example is the RIAA.

What happens when Corbis comes after you with a lawsuit for using the Mona Lisa as your desktop wallpaper?

-sy-

you'll note that the Bettman Archive was in the business of selling those images long before Gates was sucking at his mother's teat. There are a lot of other image renting companies out there, and photo service bureaus and archives have long been the way to get art for your publications. And it none of it was ever free. Never cost all that much, but definitely not free.

Around the time we started getting those "10,000 images on a CD-ROM" deals, the service bureaus and individual photographers were up in arms about income being drained by people just grabbing free art. Now, it's assumed by a lot of people that whatever is out there is free for the taking.

Copyrighted images have always had renewal options, and corporate copyrights are one matter, but individual copyrights are good for 75 years after the holder dies. That means anything done after 1928 ain't in the public domain unless the owner sez it is, and some stuff prior to that might not be, either.

As far as images of Goya's paintings or Roman mosaics go, yeah, the originals are in the public domain, sort of (don't try walking away with a Raphael), but you might have an argument with the museum about the reproductions sold in their gift shops. If you go in and photograph or copy the original, that's yours, but someone else's copy may not be.

Lawyers make their boat payments with this stuff.