I agree, the likelihood that the museum owns the copyright is very slim.  You might be able to make legal copies of the photographs under the "fair use" exception.  The fair use exception usually doesn't apply if you make a profit on the copies, so I would be careful to charge only for the cost of the actual reproduction and no additional permission fees.  Alternatively, you could decide that the risk of an infringement complaint is so low that you should just go ahead and copy them.  Assuming that the photographs have never been registered with the Copyright Office, you are not subject to the most onerous penalties.

Most of all, you should take Bill Maher's workshop on copyright as soon as you possibly can!

Peter Hirtle

At 02:47 PM 7/3/2006, Carlos Ovalle wrote:
I don't believe the museum owns the copyright of the photos, unless copyright was passed on to the museum in writing by the copyright holders. The materials might be in the public domain, depending on how old the photos are, if they were ever published, and which formalities were required at the time of their creation/publication. Peter Hirtle's Public Domain Copyright Term Chart may help: http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/training/Hirtle_Public_Domain.htm

If the copyright holders can't be found, the photographs are probably considered orphan works. Legislation related to the use of orphan works has been introduced in the house (HR 5439), which should make it easier for some uses of these types of works. I'm not quite certain where it's going at this time.

Carlos Ovalle


On 7/3/06, Jessica Waite <[log in to unmask] > wrote:

Hello! I'm new to the listserv and the museum field. I am not quite as familiar with copyright as I would like to be and I was hoping somebody would be able to answer my question. Part of my responsibilities is to organize the museum's archival and photograph collection. Just today I was contacted by a volunteer who would like to use some photographs in our collection for publication. The photos are part of a collection donated to us by a law firm who inherited the photos from an oil company here in Virginia. The company has long been disbanded and the lawyers have passed away. Am I right to assume the copyright for the photographs lies with the museum? Thanks!

Jessica Waite

 

Curator of Collections and Education
Reedville Fishermen's Museum
P.O. Box 306
Reedville, VA  22539

(804) 453-6529 

 
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