copyright issues

[milcollector]

I am sure it has been discussed before, but can someone please give me some accurate info here.

I want to sell the right to third parties, to use images of original photographs I have in my collection.

I am not sure if the original photographs I have in my collection are "one-offs" or if there are other copies elsewhere in the world. This is the same situation that every photo collector will find themselves in (during the war it was highly common for soldiers snapshots to have more than one copy developed).

Can I legally sell rights for third party use of the images in my collection ?
Will the laws regarding this vary between countries ?

case example:
I sell rights to a magazine for use of one of my photo images. Another collector or museum in the world just happens to have the exact same image in their collection due to the fact the German soldier back in 1944 made multiple copies from his negative. What happens here ?

Thanks kindly for any info.

[R MICHAEL]

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ight=copyright

try this. Mike

[Paul Henley]

I want to sell the right to third parties, to use images of original photographs I have in my collection.

Can I legally sell rights for third party use of the images in my collection ?
Will the laws regarding this vary between countries ?

case example:
I sell rights to a magazine for use of one of my photo images. Another collector or museum in the world just happens to have the exact same image in their collection due to the fact the German soldier back in 1944 made multiple copies from his negative. What happens here ?

Copyright law is an extremely confusing and complex subject. Without knowing more details on the image in question, it's impossible to give you a straight answer. Normally, the person creating the image (or his/her heirs) is the legitimate copyright owner. Of course, there is the possibility the image has lapsed into the public domain, but unless you know the creator of the photo, it's very difficult to know its present copyright status.

There are stock agencies such as Getty Images and Bill Gates' Corbis that license editorial archival images. Many of the images have fallen into the public domain, but many have not. After two years, I still have not received a straight answer into how such companies can legitimately use images where ownership of the copyright is suspect. My guess is that for agencies with extremely deep pockets and a battalion of lawyers watching their flank, the economic return versus the rare possibility of infringement litigation is worth the risk. These companies realize that to pursue copyright infringement, especially of older images, is almost impossible to prove and to successfully win in court. The burden of proof is on the person initiating the infringement allegation. Not saying that the accuser cannot win in a court of law, but it's a huge hurdle to overcome if steps were not taken to protect/register his images prior to the infringement.

With all that being said, in the United States, there is legislation being pushed through Congress to allow "Orphan Works" to be used. It basically allows unknown works, such as photos, to be used legally once "reasonable" steps have been pursued to identify the copyright owner. The bill got through the House of Representatives and almost through the Senate during the last session of Congress, but simply ran out of time. It is likely that the Orphan Works bill will pass within the next year.

Copyright Links:
http://vintagephoto.com/reference/copyrightarticle1.htm
http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/tra...lic_Domain.htm
http://www.copyright.gov/
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/
http://legalminds.lp.findlaw.com/lis.../msg09540.html
http://fairuse.stanford.edu/

Good luck