August 27, 2010 @ 08:08am
I have a beautiful book of old photos. They were taken by a German photographer and published in 1918 as part of a series of travel books. They are forwarded by a large descriptive text in German. As far as I know the book has not been reprinted or republished, and I'm assuming that the photographer died atleast 50 years ago. I once contacted the original publishers in Berlin and they told me that all materials were destroyed in the second world war and they had no idea about the whereabouts of any of the photographer's family. However, I do know that a few years ago a handful of the photos were (badly) reproduced in a Sunday supplement alongside modern photos of the same scenes.
My question is this. Does the newspaper which copied some of the pictures have any rights over the original images? Am I free to reproduce the book in its entirety without seeking any permission? And, just to be safe, is there any way I can establish my own rights before actually going to print? Naturally full credit would be given to the original author/photographer.