Copyright Info

Bart's Comments:

Originally Posted by Bart Bandy

Well, copyuright is murky and confusing at best. Basica copyright in the USA for commericial images is 75 years from first use, and it can be reknewed - thank Disney for that. Individual works are life of the author plus 75 years. Author is accepted as teh creator of the copyrightablbe work.

However, copyright issues are really only a matter if large amounts of money are at stake, or if your conscience gets the better of you. Usually acknowledgement is acceptable. Mass production is not a reason to exempt fropm copyright, in fact it is one of the reasons the concepts exist at all. Basically you'd need to establish whent eh Sanke company ceased to exist, then add 75 years.

Public domain is public domain and fully reproducable by anyone for any reason. e.g. all NASA images are public domain, as is any other image produced byt he US governemnt. However, the british government takes the opposite approach. I'd wager a searchon sanke and copyright woudl answer your questions quickly.

There are many excellent sites on copyright law, a google search will turn them up. Wishfulness or ignorance of the status are not acceptable reasons to violate copyright. The onus is on the user to verify the status of material.

Good luck.

Bart's comments are well taken (and it's good to see there is at least one other person on this site with typing skills comparable to my own), but there is one other issue involved and that is the conflict of law issue. My bet is that German copyright law, which is the law that would apply to Sanke cards, is not the same as US law on this point. Hans has previously made this point, as well. In addition, however, there is also the question as to whether German copyright law of today would apply versus the law of 1918, or some other law altogether? Perhaps new standards imposed by the EU Parliament? Did the German Third Reich, which was a Socialist government which frequently utilized some Sanke images for it's own propaganda purposes, nationalize some or all of the Sanke rights? If so, are they still owned by today's German government? Lots of questions and I don't see that anyone actually has the answers. I would guess you are clear, but contact with an experienced publisher in the WW1 field would probably be your best bet. An internet search of the law on this area is only as reliable as your search terms and as the person who writes the online article. I put little stock in a legal opinion by someone who has absolutely no downside to being wrong. A publisher has a potential downside (possible liability) and is more likely to have had someone in their legal department or outside counsel at least look at this issue, or they will know from experience that nobody knows who owns the copyright, even if it still exists, and thus there is no significant danger of liability.

Matt

I guess that is why there are attorneys who specialize in international copyright law.

But with the Internet, I Ponds, DVD cameras, ......!!????

All excellent points, gentlemen!... And there's always the possibility that Deutsch copyrights that may have gone into effect in WW1 or WW2 are simply considered null and void since both of those German governments (as far as the rest of the world is concerned) no longer exist!...

"Prost!"

[Barrett]

Originally Posted by Colin A Owers

I think that the British Crown (that is the Government) copyright has no limit. Same as the US Government does not give up their ownership of recovered aircraft wrecks - unless it was sold beforehand. You can get caught out if you are not careful.

Rant Mode ON:

Ah, that's a VERY sensitive area. Confusing, too.
The problem is, there's no unified DoD policy. The Air Force and the navy have different policies. IIRC the AF doesn't care if you retrieve something that crashed before 1961 unless there's remains or ordnance aboard. A most enlightened attitude, witness the Six Million Dollar Airplane, P-38 "Glacier Gal."

The navy is consistent, however: mean, spiteful, and vindictive. It claims everything it ever owned, never mind that it was burned, bulldozed, dropped in the ocean, and stricken from the USN rolls. Getting navy approval to retrieve ANYTHING is lengthy, frustrating, and expensive. The world's only TBD Devastator continues to rot off Florida because the navy "history community" couldn't recover the plane itself.

Rant Mode to STANDBY.

Originally Posted by VonReichel

And there's always the possibility that Deutsch copyrights that may have gone into effect in WW1 or WW2 are simply considered null and void since both of those German governments (as far as the rest of the world is concerned) no longer exist!

Actually, that is not a possibility. The German government may have surrendered or sold its rights, if any ever existed, but the dissolution of a government, even its conquest in war, does not simply void what rights would otherwise exist in favor of the sovereign. For example, Russia still owns the assets, as well as the treaty rights and obligations of Czarist Russia, as well as those of the USSR, even though neither of those entities exist today. (E.g.: strategic arms limitations agreements with the USA; debt to the World Bank) Similarly, Britain returned Hong Kong to the Peoples Republic of China even though that state didn't exist when Britain signed the agreement for long term rights to that island with the Imperial Chinese state nearly100 years earlier. In those rare examples where this sort of argument is asserted in international relations, it is usually by the "new" state authority itself and is typically for the purpose of avoiding its international debts and obligations. Of course they uniformly maintain the right to control the former regime's rights and assets of all nature. These rare attempts to avoid one's international obligations are usually short lived and/or unsuccessful. In other words, if Germany doesn't hold those rights, its not because the government has changed. (Of course, a conquering country can take another state's rights for itself, but that is a different issue altogether, and in such circumstances the rights are transfered, not voided.)

and the beat goes on ......A judge just rule in a copyright case about the "Da Vinci Code"...book and movie. he rule against the plainiff. Then there is the appeal and appeal and appeal......