There is a very useful chart laying out when copyrighted material in the United States enters the public domain at http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm.
It will show, for example, why there is simply no way there could be a copyright in any image published around 1900. Conceivably some new copyrighted work could incorporate an uncopyrighted image, but that portion of the new work, and the image itself, of course would remain public domain. A straight reproduction of a public domain image -- as in a new souvenir postcard of such an image -- is something anyone could make, and publish in any form. Hope this is helpful. Regards, Virginia Rutledge --- On Thu, 11/18/10, Pandora Mather-Lees <pandoraml at hotmail.com> wrote: From: Pandora Mather-Lees <pandor...@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Using old postcards to create new souvenirs: copyright? To: mcn-l at mcn.edu Date: Thursday, November 18, 2010, 8:04 AM Hello You probably know that the photographer may not still be alive but the? rights will continue for 70 years after the end of the year of his or her death.? When Bridgeman Art Library accesses this type of material from our museums and we are unsure (often they have little information to give us) we usually flag up the image as 'copyright status unknown' and we would certainly do this for anything post 1900.? Sometimes you can track the rights through the photographic studio if there is a stamp there.? At least this way our clients are aware that there is some risk.? With very old photographs, we would usually take the decision to display them on our website however. Hope that helps, Pandora Mather-Lees, MD, Bridgeman Education > From: FThomson at ashevilleart.org > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Date: Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:30:49 -0500 > Subject: Re: [MCN-L] Using old postcards to create new souvenirs: copyright? > > There are occasionally contemporary publishers that also assert copyright > over vintage postcards that were published by companies they have bought out. > > We have so local postcards from around 1900 that a company claims copyrights > over. > > Frank Thomson, Curator > Asheville Art Museum > PO Box 1717 > 2 South Pack Square > Asheville, NC 28802 > 828.253.3227 tel > 828.257.4503 fax > fthomson at ashevilleart.org > www.ashevilleart.org > > -----Original Message----- > From: mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu [mailto:mcn-l-bounces at mcn.edu] On Behalf Of > Stephanie Weaver > Sent: Wednesday, November 17, 2010 3:00 PM > To: mcn-l at mcn.edu > Subject: [MCN-L] Using old postcards to create new souvenirs: copyright? > > Hi MCN, > I know many of you deal with copyright so wanted to ask for your input. One > of my clients would like to create new postcards from historic postcards of > their site that they have collected or purchased (but not accessioned). At > what point do mass-produced images become public domain? The original > postcards are from the 1920s-1940s. Copies of these postcards are most likely > in collections in our local historical society. > > Thanks, I appreciate you sharing your expertise. > > Best, > > > Stephanie Weaver > Visitor experience consultant > experienceology: Because happy visitors return. > San Diego, CA > Skype: experienceology > E-news: http://www.experienceology.com/newsletter/ > > For information on our book, blog, podcast, upcoming classes, and e-news, > visit www.experienceology.com or follow me on twitter.com/experienceology. > See samples of my classes here: www.youtube.com/experienceology. Watch the > free archived version of my class on the visitor experience here: > http://bit.ly/NlunE > > Upcoming presentations: > Interpretation Canada online conference: November 30, 2010 Hawai'i Museums > Association: January 2011 (TBD) > > Past presentations: > Palo Alto Art Center: October 2010 > Western Museums Association: October 2010 Heard Museum & Phoenix Zoo: October > 2010 Downey City Library: August 2010 American Association of Museums: May > 2010 Tijuana Estuary docent training: April 2010 UCLA Extension: January 2010 > > _______________________________________________ > You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer > Network (http://www.mcn.edu) > > To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu > > To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l > > The MCN-L archives can be found at: > http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/ ??? ???????? ?????? ??? ? -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ You are currently subscribed to mcn-l, the listserv of the Museum Computer Network (http://www.mcn.edu) To post to this list, send messages to: mcn-l at mcn.edu To unsubscribe or change mcn-l delivery options visit: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/mailman/listinfo/mcn-l The MCN-L archives can be found at: http://toronto.mediatrope.com/pipermail/mcn-l/
