Original images and copyrights

[veleno45]

I found an awesome original photo from the 1970's of a cowboy/redskin football game. It was in a box of stuff that probably had come from my father who worked for a local newspaper. I see no marks on the image and have not found it online.

Can I reprint and sell this image, can I sell the original, etc. What are the rules on physical photos?

[steve B]

As I understand it, and someone who works in copyright law may have a better/different explanation.

You can sell the original. It's a piece of physical property just like for instance a used book or a baseball card.

You might be able to sell copies.
If it was a photo your father took then he might be the copyright holder.
It would depend on his arrangement with the paper and whether he took the picture while working for them.
So if his agreement said all the pictures he took belonged to the paper then it's theirs. If he was freelance or they only got rights to ones they bought it's his.

If it's his and he's still around then you'd need permission form him.
If he's not around. (Condolences of course) Then it would depend on who is/was running the estate, or who got what. That part I have no idea about beyond that.


Whichever way it is, I'd imagine the picture has limited commercial value. So not something you'd make thousands from?
To do it right you'd have an IP lawyer determine whether or not you have copyright. I believe that's fairly expensive.
To do it the iffy way, if it's not a vary valuable image, get an internegative made (Or top quality scan for digital printing) And sell a few. You might want to find out if the paper uses one of the very aggressive rights management companies who sue first. If not they probably won't care about a handful of sales even if they have the rights.

All of this gets trickier if you have the original negative. Sort of a catch 22 where they may have the rights, but you own the only copy. Arguing over it makes it unavailable to anyone.

Steve B

[veleno45]

thanks for the response. Kind of my thought process on it also. Copying it definitely is not something I was thinking was worth thousands...in fact not worth hundreds. I just noticed there are some members who do things like make custom cards and such. It would be cool to use the image for things like that.

Of course I fear getting a letter in the mail from an attorney down the road stating copyright violations.

[steve B]

As I understand that aspect of it - Again with the caution that I'm not an IP lawyer or lawyer of any sort.

If the paper owns it and uses one of the really aggressive IP management companies. You'll get served with a suit for ridiculous "damages".

If they own it and do things reasonably and/or in house, it might simply be a letter saying "we own that, stop selling copies or we'll have to do something" At which point you simply reply that you've stopped (And actually stop) And it's all ok.

I don't think I've heard of anyone making the custom cards getting in any trouble.

The couple ones I have seen get in trouble were the place that was making 3-D ish cards out of three laser cut star cards with spacers. All three big card companies were mad at him. But he was also selling through Toys r Us and maybe one or two other big retail outlets.
Another was making limited edition standups from licensed photos by gluing them to foamboard cutting them to shape and mounting it to a base with a serial numbered plaque. He was somewhat local, and I think the photo producers were ok with him, but the licensing groups weren't.

I have one of the standups, but never bought the 3-D cards. I tried when I heard he was in trouble, but TRU had pulled them.

If you're only thinking of making a few copies for friends or doing a custom card I'd do a quick check of the IP management of the paper and if it's not one of the aggressive companies I'd just go ahead and do it.

Steve B