How to find the copyright holder for photos?!

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• March 24, 2011 @ 10:36pmCarmel27 says:

  Hi all,
  
  I am working on a project on a pop icon for the estate of the pop icon. I am trying to research who owns the copyrights to various photos-- some are easy to determine if they are part of Getty Images, or AP images... but the others?
  
  Is there anyway to find this information?
  
  Thank you!
• March 25, 2011 @ 11:37pmCarmel27 says:

  Hi, thank you for looking. Please let me know if there is anyway to find the owners of copyrighted photos or will you find out if you try to copyright them?
  
  ;/ thanks!
• March 28, 2011 @ 7:45amRuthDukelow says:

  Copyright in a photograph generally is owned by the photographer (or in the photographer's employer in some instances, such as staff photographers for newspapers, etc.). The photographer, or other owner, has the ability to transfer ownership of the copyright in the photo, however, so tracing ownership may be difficult.
  
  The U.S. Copyright Office website http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-fairuse.html states:
  "In the case of photographs, it is sometimes difficult to determine who owns the copyright and there may be little or no information about the owner on individual copies. Ownership of a “copy” of a photograph – the tangible embodiment of the “work” – is distinct from the “work” itself – the intangible intellectual property. The owner of the “work” is generally the photographer or, in certain situations, the employer of the photographer. Even if a person hires a photographer to take pictures of a wedding, for example, the photographer will own the copyright in the photographs unless the copyright in the photographs is transferred, in writing and signed by the copyright owner, to another person. The subject of the photograph generally has nothing to do with the ownership of the copyright in the photograph. If the photographer is no longer living, the rights in the photograph are determined by the photographer’s will or passed as personal property by the applicable laws of intestate succession."
  
  If the photographs were registered with the U.S. Copyright Office, you might be able to locate the owner through a search. Circular 22 http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.pdf of the U.S. Copyright Office sets out information on How to Investigate Copyright Status of a Work. Online searching is available at http://www.copyright.gov/records/ Records for copyright of photographs are "Visual Material."
  
  If the estate wishes to use a particular photograph in a commercial publication, you might need to hire someone to do a more in-depth search if your search attempts are not successful.
• April 15, 2011 @ 1:58amBeathan says:

  I have the question that if the photographs are not registered with the copyright office then there might be the difficulty for fining the owner . How we can find the original owner of the photographs then ? Thanks
• July 8, 2011 @ 12:37pmJanetCroft says:

  Finding the original owner can be amazingly difficult. Is there any clue you can follow on the photo itself? Where did you get the photo -- maybe that will give you a clue. Try some of the image searches online and see what you can find. Maybe find a library or museum collection on the topic in question and talk to someone there. If worst comes to worst, you may have to fall back on stating somewhere that you have searched for the owner (keep documentation), can't find him or her, and will gladly take the photo down if he or she steps forward. Alas, we STILL don't have a good mechanism for using orphan works safely in this country.
• October 3, 2011 @ 11:34amNeilma says:

  I have this same problem.. there doesn't seem to be a definitive answer to it :-/ [color=#dedfdf]crate training puppies[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy aggression[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy whining[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy growling[/color] [color=#dedfdf]weaning puppies[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy chewing[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy separation anxiety[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy crying[/color] [color=#dedfdf]how to leash train a puppy[/color] [color=#dedfdf]why do dogs eat grass[/color] [color=#dedfdf]why do dogs eat poop[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy toilet training[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy training[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy training tips[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy barking[/color] [color=#dedfdf]puppy biting[/color] [color=#dedfdf]house training a puppy[/color] I'll stay tuned here anyway, thanks for the help so far anyway guys :) [color=#dedfdf]how often should i feed my puppy[/color] [color=#dedfdf]how to train a puppy[/color] [color=#dedfdf]best marijuana seeds[/color] [color=#dedfdf]weed seeds for sale[/color] [color=#dedfdf]buy cannabis seeds[/color] [color=#dedfdf]cannabis seeds for sale[/color] [color=#dedfdf]pot seeds for sale[/color] [color=#dedfdf]northern lights weed[/color] [color=#dedfdf]a[/color] [color=#dedfdf]b[/color] [color=#dedfdf]c[/color] [color=#dedfdf]d[/color] [color=#dedfdf]e[/color] [color=#dedfdf]f[/color] [color=#dedfdf]g[/color] [color=#dedfdf]h[/color] [color=#dedfdf]i[/color] [color=#dedfdf]j[/color] [color=#dedfdf]k[/color] [color=#dedfdf]l[/color] [color=#dedfdf]m[/color] [color=#dedfdf]n[/color] [color=#dedfdf]o[/color] [color=#dedfdf]p[/color] [color=#dedfdf]q[/color] [color=#dedfdf]r[/color] Neil
• October 24, 2011 @ 12:34pmwilliamsonl says:

  Janet is right--sometimes it's nearly impossible to determine the copyright owner of a photograph. And Neilma is right--there is no definitive answer. Once you've exhausted all your resources to find out the owner, you will have to make a decision based on the information you have, the level of risk and your own experience.

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