What Is An Original Photograph?

[Viscount]

Recently, I was discussing this subject with an author of WW1 military books. The view of his lawyers is that if he buys a hardcopy of a photograph, he is legally entitled to treat it as his own and therefore publish it. But he can't publish digital copies even if he has paid for them.

But there are many 'original' hardcopy copies of photos. And does not the copyright sit with the original photographer or agency?

Is this a 'feeding trough' for lawyers?

Regards,
Robert.

[Paulus_Gun]

I think that in many cases now World War I photographs are no longer copyrighted. If I'm right (for example) in the USA the copyright expires 70 years after the creator's death.

[12thPanzer]

I dont think ive ever heard a final answer to this question actually.

Morally, when it comes to WWII photos, I think that if a person holds a period printed photo from the original negative in there possesion, they should have the right to publish or whatever esle. In one way or another, the original owner/photgrapher has obviously passed on the photo at some point......therefore ending ownership IMO.

But as stated, who knows how many copies were period printed from the original negative, and what the law is in this case?

Interesting conversation topic....but Im afraid we will never get a straight answer! If so, that would be good.

[randy@treadways]

An exception might be if there is a clear copyright notice printed on the front or back... but even then it might have expired.

It's comparitively easy to write a book, but then often takes several years to get all the clearances if you want to use a lot of photos. (A good publisher will force the author to chase down those clearances).
War photos and photos from other countries take even longer, because there are so many different jurisdictions involved with different rules. Eventually an 'honest effort' rule will usually come into play if you've tried hard to chase down the permissions (in some cases publishing notices of 'intent to publish' in the right places, like newspapers, or sending requests to known original parties who may or may not even respond to you).

A friend of mine published a book about a big event that happened in 1964, and it took a long time to get all the okays from corporations and parties all over the place, and they were all in the U.S.. Going back even 20 years farther into the past makes it even more difficult.