From one Tim to another!
Some of the specifics differ between Canada and the U.S. in copyright
law, but I think most of the guiding principles are the same (for
example, copyright is preserved beyond the life of the creator of a
work--in Canada it's 50 years after the end of the calendar year in
which the creator dies, in the U.S. it's 70 years).
If the photo has passed the life-plus-seventy years, it's public
domain. If that time has not elapsed, then you're going to have to look
into the "various things" that may determine it to be public domain (I'm
sure these are just as complicated in the U.S. as they are here in
Canada).
I expect the same kinds of rules hold true for making reasonable
attempts to track down the holder of a copyright.
For more info on U.S. copyright laws, see
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/
That being said, are you in Canada or the U.S? If in Canada, the Berne
Convention states that foreign copyrights will be respected under the
copyright laws of the host nation. So, if in Canada and dealing with a
U.S. photograph, the life-plus-fifty rule holds as to when the photo
enters the public domain, whereas your American colleagues would have to
observe the life-plus-70 for the same photo. Kinda weird (especially
considering that if a Canadian photo passed the life-plus-fifty today to
enter into public domain, it's still protected for another 20 years in
the U.S.), but that's copyright law for you.
Cheers,
------------------------------------------------------------
Tim McShane, Assistant--Cultural History
Medicine Hat Museum and Art Gallery
1302 Bomford Crescent S.W.
Medicine Hat, AB T1A 5E6
(403) 502-8587
>>> [log in to unmask] 07/17/03 09:35AM >>>
I know most of this stuff for Canada and the Canadian Copyright Act (or
at
least where to find it...), but can anyone point me to any useful
information for the US on determining
a) whether a photograph is still copyright or has passed into public
domain
(it's complicated in Canada depending on various things...)
b) what to do if you can't track down the copyright owner (say the
photographer or their heirs) on an old photograph that someone wants
to
reproduce. I know that in some jurisdiction there are a "reasonable"
set of
hoops that can be jumped through if the owner can't be found or
identified.
thanks
tim
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