the infamous ‘copyright’ symbol
Toronto. You found a great print for your collection. Who owns the copyright? Someone copies an old photograph and claims copyright. Can he do this?
Mark Twain once said, “Only one thing is impossible to God — to find any sense in any copyright law on this planet.”
My friend George Dunbar was curious about copyright conventions for old photographs and researched the subject. His findings appear in issue 26-5 under the article, “Photography & Copyright – Confusion for Collectors?”.
Occasionally on this site someone will challenge my choice of image under copyright law. Are they correct? I don’t know, but it is far cheaper to replace the ‘offending image’ than risk a costly court hearing over what may well be a trivial issue. Generally, as a not for profit educational site, we are allowed a bit of leeway.
George writes, “I’ve been puzzled by the copyright restrictions placed on antique photographs and after asking advice of a number of business individuals and of members at our PHSC meetings, I turned to the internet to seek advice from a wider scope of experts. The replies produced a number of divergent views which serve to illustrate that copyright regulations are poorly understood by those who work with photographs.
“My original query was this: ‘I’m puzzled over the copyright that is frequently claimed for photographs which, from their age, must now been in the ‘public domain’. I’ve noticed that archives and museums often publish a copyright notice under the reproduction of a hundred-year old photograph. How is this possible?
“Some claim that a newly minted copy made from the original print can be copyrighted. That seems highly irregular, since copyright traditionally applies only to original, artistic expression. Are some curators claiming that they can hold a copyright by simply copying a ‘public domain’ work?” …
Members were able to read all of George’s findings in the issue 26-5 pdf file on the free members-only DVD/memory stick. See ‘membership’ above or at right to join. Email any questions to member@phsc.ca.
