help with copyright

Steve2

Steve2

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Steve
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Hello, In our village we are setting up a group within the parish council to archive old photos, postcards and quotes out of old newspapers about our village
We have already been inundated with lots of material which we would like to scan and print up to A4 size, do a slideshow at various events throughout the year, probably put them on disc to sell and im sure people will want to buy copies of some of the material.
any monies raised will be distributed within various groups in the village but i am concerned over copyright and need some form of disclaimer and form for people to give their permission for us to use the pictures as we see fit.
Can any of you give us some guidelines of how best we approach this, thanks
 
with photos its - whoever took them isnt it?? (owns the copyright..)

the other no idea :D

have a freee bump though :D
 
Yes, in theory you could be in trouble. You need to find out who the copyright owners are and ask their permission. If you can't find them, but at some point they find YOU, you will get chewed up and spat out.

Thats how things work...

Certainly ask the newspapers about use of anything you use of theirs - they are much more likely than an idividual to come gunning for you.
 
I think you should have informed people what they were going to be used for before sending them to you, that way they would have known....not sure but you might want to start all over again and tell them what you need them for
 
You need to find out who the copyright holder is, and get their permission. This will usually be the author of the work (applies to written work, paintings, music etc as well as photographs) but not always. Things changed a lot in 1988 and some work might be much older and even out of copyright.

The disclaimer is easy enough, but I suspect you might get a lot of stuff from people who don't own the copyright and don't understand copyright, but will be happy to sign something even when they have no right to do so.

That might then land on you unless you can show that a) you know what you're doing, b) you have made every effort to contact the true rights holder in good faith, and c) and have set aside appropriate funds to pay them when they show up.

To be honest I don't see a major practical problem with this and the nature of the project, as I imagine it, you just need someone who can look at everything and tell you what needs to be done, and can advise when they think you have got the right permissions according to the exact nature of each piece of work, its age etc.

There must be someone in the village with the right kind of knowledge to do this. There always is. A solicitor is obviously ideal but someone else with sound legal knowledge should be able to advise well enough.

It doesn't sound too difficult, just a bit of a tedius admin job. Since you probably have no budget (all voluntary I'm guessing) most people are quite happy to assign permission in return for a "Kind permission of..." type credit, even the local newpaper if you have a few cuttings from them - local communities are their bread and butter after all.

Ultimately, the publishing maxim is, if in doubt, leave it out.
 
Hoppy, thanks for the in-depth reply, I have passed this on to the rest of the committee for their thoughts:thumbs:
 
HoppyUK said:
You need to find out who the copyright holder is, and get their permission. This will usually be the author of the work (applies to written work, paintings, music etc as well as photographs) but not always. Things changed a lot in 1988 and some work might be much older and even out of copyright.
Click to expand...

1st January 1996 might be a more significant date in this context - Statutory Instrument 1995 No. 3297 The Duration of Copyright and Rights in Performances Regulations 1995 extended the duration of copyright to the life of the author plus 70 years instead of life + 50 that previously applied under the 1988 Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act.

Looking at the mathematics, to be absolutely sure that copyright has expired, you'd need to ensure that the work in question is at least older than 190 years (so created before 1820):

British-born Betsy Baker was the oldest living person recorded in 1955, aged 113 years at the time of her death. For example, copyright on any drawings she did as a two year old infant in 1844 will not expire until 2025.

The longest living person was a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who lived for 122 years between 1875 and 1997. Copyright on drawings she did as a two year old infant in 1877 will not expire until 2067.

:suspect:
 
Thanks Rob, more to mention to the committee.

I think i want out of this
 
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