John wrote: > For a definitive answer, you really need a lawyer. > > But, I'm pretty sure current law is that copyright protection for old > photos is "life of the author + 70 years". So whoever took the photo > owns the copyright and/or his heirs own it for 70 years after his > death. > > http://copyright.columbia.edu/copyright/special-topics/duration-and- > the-public-domain/ > > See the section "Works created before 1978 but not Published before > 1978:" > > As a practical matter, if no one can say for sure who actually took the > photograph, it's an orphan work. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_works_in_the_United_States > > If you're copying them to preserve digital copies of a deteriorating > physical image (i.e. fading prints or slides) for purely personal use, > that might fall under "fair use" a la the Betamax Case. > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_S > tudios,_Inc.
This really is lawyer territory, because it is so easy to muddy the water. I can see for someone using such an image commercially it is a potential minefield. So much easier using your own images (the point of photography to me), but now also ensuring someone else isn't using them too. We have seen list members suffer this issue recently. Some I can just about understand, but not when people take the image from somewhere they can clearly see who the copyright owner is, and often strip copyright watermarks from the image before using it themselves. Those people are the real problem. Malcolm -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
