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Archiver > COPYRIGHT > 2008-03 > 1205792391


From: Cliff Lamere <>
Subject: Re: [COPYRIGHT] Yearbooks Photos
Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2008 18:12:38 -0500
References: <5308d96b0803161347u2a8ad3bg40ac1de32d3c649a@mail.gmail.com> <007b01c887ab$6c4815c0$6401a8c0@LINDACOMPUTER> <47DDBE5B.5060304@cox.net> <5308d96b0803162203m255a9340mdc2cfa35db40dd49@mail.gmail.com><7.0.1.0.2.20080317105756.0228b950@att.net>
In-Reply-To: <7.0.1.0.2.20080317105756.0228b950@att.net>


Deb,

Names can't be copyrighted, so you can copy the names out of any
yearbook for any year.

Look on the first three or four pages of the yearbook for a copyright
notice. If it was published in the U.S. before 1978 and had no copyright
notice, the yearbook was not copyighted. In my opinion, very few of them
would have been copyighted. It cost money and took time to register the
copyright of a yearbook. It would have been a waste of both. Nobody is
going to be buying copies of that yearbook in the future. The publisher
would have no interest in the copyright. And, the school isn’t going to
spend taxpayer’s money on registering useless copyrights.
That leaves only the photographs to worry about.

Nobody is going to be buying the photographs in the future either. The
photo sales were in the year of graduation or very soon thereafter. I
don't believe that a professional photographer would copyright their
pre-1978 photos for a yearbook. It would cut into their profits and
waste a lot of their time.

A book published 1978 through Feb 1989 was automatically copyrighted
without registering it, but it was *required* that it have a valid
copyright notice. Without such a notice, there was no copyright.
However, the author (or photographer) had five years in which to take
certain corrective steps to gain a copyright for something published
during that time period without a copyright notice. I don't believe a
photographer would have taken corrective action to protect photos for
which he probably wasn’t even going to keep the negatives very long.

I have a genealogy website. I would personally feel very comfortable
putting a yearbook onto my website, including names, text and photos (as
long as it is pre-1989 and lacks a copyright notice).

It is highly unlikely that anyone will complain to you. If they do, and
they can convince you that you have done something illegal, you can
simply take the yearbook off the internet.

If someone complained about a photo of themself being online, you can
choose to remove that single photo, but I might not. You are posting an
historical ‘document’ (a yearbook) which you may decide should be
complete. Would the person also want group photos removed because they
were in them? I certainly would not do that, nor would I block them out
of the photo.

The photos in a yearbook were published with the knowledge of the
parents or a guardian. The student did not object to having the photo
taken at the time. I don’t think they can make a convincing case as to
why it is not legal for you to have the photo online. A high school
photo isn’t going to result in a person’s identity being stolen, no
matter what they think. A girl has even more protection because there is
no way to connect her with her future married name. If you wish, you can
remove the single photo and the controversy goes away.

Cliff Lamere


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pat Asher wrote:

>At 01:03 AM 3/17/2008, D S wrote:
>
>>Hope I hear a bit more on these topics - especially re: use of photos
>>in yearbooks.
>
>
>Many yearbooks were not copyrighted (published without notice prior to
1978).
>
>However, the photographs of individuals were quite likely taken by a
>professional who more than likely did claim copyright.
>
>If the yearbook and thus the photographs were published before 1923,
>then they are public domain.
>If they were taken/published 1923 to 1963 and the copyright was not
>renewed, they are public domain.
>If they were taken/published 1964 or after, they could very well
>still be under copyright.
>
>Here is a quick reference chart:
>http://www.copyright.cornell.edu/public_domain/
>
>Pat
>




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