Another copyright question (1966 Images)

~Stella~ · Jun 1, 2009

I have an album of 1966 prints here in the US. The photos were taken in the UK by an older photographer.

I wish to scan and make prints.

The practicalities of finding the photographer's heirs seem daunting, should it be legally necessary.

What say you?

SpeedTrap · Jun 1, 2009

Do you have the photographers name?

AlexColeman · Jun 1, 2009

Well, how many? Are you planning on distributing? If not, I think you should try to contact.

~Stella~ · Jun 1, 2009

I have an album full - it's a wedding album. Some of the photos are stamped "proof" and I could easily PS off the purple proof stamp. I plan to distribute them only within the family. (i.e. About 4 people - we have a small family). Essentially, I want to pretty some of the photos up and give them to the original purchasers of the prints.

I believe the photographer's name is on it - it's not here where I can grab it. The estimate is that he was in his 50's at the time - he would undoubtedly be dead now or really freaking old, but I realize heirs may have rights too.

KmH · Jun 1, 2009

In the US current copyright is for the life of the photographer plus 70 years. So In the US, the heirs would retain the copyrights.

In 1986 the US was one of the signators of the Berne Convention a world wide copyright agreement which could mean UK copyright law would apply here in the US since the original copyright was in the UK.

The only way to be legally certain would be to contact a copyright attorney.

Now, copyright infringement is a function of publication and the entity that would be liable to an infringement suit would be the publisher of an infringed image. So the entity that would be most concerned with copyright issues would be the printer of the scanned and repaired image.
Consequently, if you were to submit the repaired images to a pro lab they may refuse to print them without a valid use license to cover their legal behind.

~Stella~ · Jun 2, 2009

I figured. The irony in this is that the other adult member of this household has a legal degree in intellectual property but has been too busy to get back to me on the matter. :er: