On 1/21/2015 2:33 AM, Malcolm Smith wrote:
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.
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
Still, if these are old photos that have been in the family for years &
years, I don't think you're going to have any real problem with someone
suing you for infringement.
It got me thinking about some family photos I'm currently digitizing for
myself & my three sibs, along with some other photos ...
My grandmother had a photography studio in Durham, NC from 1900 to
approximately 1930. I have some of her old photos & a few of her negatives.
I'm pretty sure my father gave away many of her negatives to a local
photographer in Durham after she passed away in 1959. I have seen
several of her photos published as historic images of Durham with that
photographer taking credit for them.
At this late date I don't really care if he keeps the negatives, or that
he profits from publishing them, but it does piss me off that he's
taking credit as the author of her work.
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