Copyright and old photographs

[Lid]

I have a number of old press photos from the 1940's. Many are from the end of the war and there are some interesting ones of Churchill and the Butlin brothers too. Am I right in thinking that copyright has now expired and I can legally sell copies of these photos if I want to?

 

Thanks.

Edited April 12, 2006 by Lid

[Leon Roskilly]

Copyright for photographs exists for the lifetime of the artist + 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

 

see http://www.mda.org.uk/cbasics.htm

[Huge_Vitae]

(2) The owner of the copyright in any work may assign the right, either wholly or partially, and either generally or subject to limitations to the United Kingdom or any self-governing dominion or other part of His Majesty’s dominions to which this Act extends, and either for the whole term of the copyright or for any part thereof, and may grant any interest in the right by licence, but no such assignment or grant shall be valid unless it is in writing signed by the owner of the right in respect of which the assignment or grant is made, or by his duly authorised agent:

 

Provided that, where the author of a work is the first owner of the copyright therein, no assignment of the copyright, and no grant of any interest therein, made by him (otherwise than by will) after the passing of this Act, shall be operative to vest in the assignee or grantee any rights with respect to the copyright in the work beyond the expiration of twenty-five years from the death of the author, and the reversionary interest in the copyright expectant on the termination of that period shall, on the death of the author, notwithstanding any agreement to the contrary, devolve on his legal personal representatives as part of his estate, and any agreement entered into by him as to the disposition of such reversionary interest shall be null and void, but nothing in this proviso shall be construed as applying to the assignment of the copyright in a collective work or a licence to publish a work or part of a work as part of a collective work.

 

That having been said Lid. And in basic terms;

 

1) If you have the negatives the law can assume that you have been granted copyright.

 

2) If the items are not marked with the international copyright mark and noted the year in which made etc etc. The 'owner' will have an awful job making a case against you in Court for 'Publishing' them.

 

3) In the circumstances you have outlined I do not feel that you have any worries of copyright infringement unless the information you have, together with and accopanying the items leads a 'reasonable person' to believe that a copyright infringement could have taken place by your actions.

Edited April 14, 2006 by Huge_Vitae

[Leon Roskilly]

Something that bothers me.

 

If I hand my camera to someone else to snap me holding a fish, is the copyright mine, or the person taking the photograph!

[Huge_Vitae]

Something that bothers me.

 

If I hand my camera to someone else to snap me holding a fish, is the copyright mine, or the person taking the photograph!

Yeah........... Like that is ever going to happen..........

 

Especially in your case Leon it would belong to the person who caught the fish for you

 

Seriously though, you have copyright of your own image unless you employ somebody to take the photograph.

[Lid]

Thanks for the info and the links.

 

However I do not have the negatives, only the prints. These are press photos and most have a label on the back explaining the photograph and giving the date taken.

 

The photographer's name is not shown, but they are also stamped with the source, for example :

 

COPYRIGHT

P.A. - REUTER

PHOTOS LTD

85 Fleet Street, London, E.C.4.

CENTRAL 7440

 

or

 

COPYRIGHT

PLANET NEWS LTD.

3 JOHNSON'S COURT,

FLEET STREET, E.C.4.

PHONE : CENTRAL 36/1/3

 

etc.

 

I guess this means I probably can't legally sell copies today, but how do I work out when copyright expires given I don't know who the original photographers are?

Edited April 15, 2006 by Lid