Message-Id: <mailto:199410032006.PAA25162@library.wustl.edu> Date: Mon, 3 Oct 1994 16:05:38 +0300 From: Lisa Weedman <mailto:ali00law@UNCCVM.UNCC.EDU> Subject: Re: copyrights To: Multiple recipients of list IMAGELIB <mailto:IMAGELIB@ARIZVM1.BITNET>
>> At Augustana College Library, we're working on a project scanning
>> in images to be accesible through Mosaic to other schools over
>> the Internet. Several of the images I'd like to use are postcards, some
>> from the early 1900s. I'm unsure about copyright regulations, though;
>> are there specific laws regarding postcards? I know the laws vary
>> for different types of print works. How many years must go by before
>> a copyright expires?
>
>
>I don't know about the expiration, but chances are that the original
>photographer of any image holds the copyright. You should get permission to
>use ANY photograph from the author, the photographer.
>
>Marty Wachter "You will become one, with the Mac"
>Senior Software Engineer
>Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
>Office of Medical Informatics and Education
The Copyright Law of the US which governs reproduction of all copyrighted materials (Title 17, US Code) includes a fair-use provision that allows, within certain conditions, the reproduction of copyrighted materials. Now, actually understanding what those conditions are is a different story. For our uses (we produce visual classroom/conference materials for professors and students) we are covered against liability due to certain "scholarship" and "private study" conditions. There are also certain expiration conditions, but I don't know the specifics.
As the previous responder mentioned, you should get permission from the photographer or the printer of the postcards, IF at all possible. Unfortunately for artists though, copyright laws don't really protect their work unless it is stolen maliciously or sold under false pretenses.
Lisa Weedman Media Services/Graphics The University of North Carolina at Charlotte mailto:ali00law@unccvm.uncc.edu