Determining publication status on photos
- October 21, 2019 @ 11:45amapizzollo says:
Hi all,
Photographs have come up a few times before in the forum, but I'm not seeing the exact topic/answer I'm hoping for.
I struggle with determing if historic photos are published or unpublished. Per the current photograph copyright registration guidelines: "For copyright purposes, a photograph is published on the specific month, day, and year that a copy or multiple copies of that work are distributed to the public for the first time. A photograph is also published when copies of that work are offered to a group of persons for the first time for purposes of further distribution or public display. The public display of a photograph, in and of itself, does not constitute publication." https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ42.pdf
Other circulars on publication status in general talk about limited distribution vs wide distribution/distribution to the public being part of the determination.
If it seems like the photos in question were likely acquired via sale to a small group of people- does that count as published photos? I'm working with photographs of a play's cast. They're group photos of them posing in costume. The cast are students at a college. The photos are pre 1924, but post 1900- so they're copyright status depends on if they are published or not. (since I don't know who the photographer is and therefore don't know their death date). I am working with photograhic prints, not negatives.
What do y'all think? Would you assume these would likely count as published since at least one copy was distributed "to the public" ? Do the cast members alone count as the public? (the prints I have were previously owned by cast members photographed)
If they count as published- well then, there's no copyright notice on the prints, so they're no longer in copyright based on the dates. I've only ever seen one photographic print with a copyright notice on it- in an entirely different situation. Overall, I remain somewhat puzzled on determining if a photogrpah is published or not- unless it's printed in a publication like a newspaper, journal, or book.
Any help you can give is appreciated. For reference, these are the resources I've already consulted:
https://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ42.pdf
https://www.copyright.gov/comp3/chap1900/ch1900-publication.pdf
- November 14, 2019 @ 2:37pmCarrie says:
Photographers themselves have trouble determining if their photos are published or not (true!) I think the definistion in the circular is the best thing to go by. Do we know if the photos were meant for publicity purposes? If so, then I would say they are published. If they were just meant for the small group of actors, I would say unpublished because photos were not distributed or displayed to the public. This is complicated. Have you checked the Compendium - I know there is a section on photographs. https://www.copyright.gov/comp3/index.html
Carrie
- November 20, 2019 @ 8:32amapizzollo says:
Thanks Carrie! I did check the compendium, I should have included that in my list. I didn't find it incredibly helpful in terms of determining publication status, but still good info of course.
Thank you for your help!
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