Copyright question

[BernardandMissBianca]

My grandmother recently inherited a bunch of pics from my great uncle(her brother) after he passed, some of which are professional photos of his parents and grandparents, my great and great great grandparents. I took them to a local Walmart to have copied and was turned away stating copyright laws.
I am having a hard time finding anything concrete about the rules regarding these photos. Some of these pictures are over a hundred years old and have no visible markings. How am I supposed to know who took them and get permission to copy them.

Any advice or can someone please point me in the right direction?

TIA!

 

[AndrewWG]

My grandmother recently inherited a bunch of pics from my great uncle(her brother) after he passed, some of which are professional photos of his parents and grandparents, my great and great great grandparents. I took them to a local Walmart to have copied and was turned away stating copyright laws.
I am having a hard time finding anything concrete about the rules regarding these photos. Some of these pictures are over a hundred years old and have no visible markings. How am I supposed to know who took them and get permission to copy them.

Any advice or can someone please point me in the right direction?

TIA!

As I understood it, they are protected for something like 50 years. After that, they are ok to copy. I'm sure this is half truth as I am no lawyer by any means. I'm sure others will chime in soon with more solid advice. I'm interested in this too. Good question!

Wal-Mart will turn away just about anything that looks professional. Other stores may not be so tough.

Andy

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

As I understood it, they are protected for something like 50 years. After that, they are ok to copy. I'm sure this is half truth as I am no lawyer by any means. I'm sure others will chime in soon with more solid advice. I'm interested in this too. Good question!

Wal-Mart will turn away just about anything that looks professional. Other stores may not be so tough.

Andy

I have read some horror stories in trying to track down the needed info. Walmart turning away the very person who took the picture.
Dh takes really great pics and has a professional camera so I am waiting for the day they turn our WDW pics away.

I know I should have taken them somewhere else but Walmart was close and I was out of state so tracking down a photo shop would have been tough.
Thanks for trying to help!

 

[AndrewWG]

I've just done some quick reading around the net here and it would seem like the general understanding of the copyright law is 70 years after the death of the photographer. In most (if not all) cases, this is impossible to determine. I haven't seen too many of the old family portraits signed by the photographer. If they were, then his or her heirs would still maintain the copyright (even if they didn't know about it) for 70 years after the photographers death.

Seems like a real real confusing topic, those copyright laws.

Andy

 

[bostran1]

I've just done some quick reading around the net here and it would seem like the general understanding of the copyright law is 70 years after the death of the photographer. In most (if not all) cases, this is impossible to determine. I haven't seen too many of the old family portraits signed by the photographer. If they were, then his or her heirs would still maintain the copyright (even if they didn't know about it) for 70 years after the photographers death.

Seems like a real real confusing topic, those copyright laws.

Andy

Andy, I am pretty sure you are correct. I should know, I'm studying for the bar exam in 4 days! Well, copyrights aren't tested but I was an editor for the Journal of High Technology Law. Anyway, I believe copyrights last for either 50 or 70 years after the death of the creator (or I think up to 120 years if it was created for hire by a corporation) and then they enter the public domain. Anything published before 1923 (I think) is now in the public domain).

But, I've heard I don't know how many stories about Wal-Mart refusing to develop people's photos. I guess they don't think anyone who gets pictures printed there knows anything about photography. I know I'll never go there.

 

[handicap18]

I always thought it was 50 years after the death of the copywrite holder.

Anyway, tell Wal-Mart that the copywrite has expired. The pictures are 110 years old,, the person who took the picture died when he was 62 and that was 53 years ago (so that would mean he took the pic when he was 57, or is my math off,,, either way I don't think the person working the photo lab at wal-mart will do the math fast enough anyway...) Then you can tell the wal-mart associate that maybe they should catch up on their copywrite laws. Then when they say Ok, we'll do it, tell them. No I changed my mind, you people obviously don't know what your doing. I'll go down the street to bla bla bla photo shop.

Is there a Ritz/Wolf Camera near you. You can try them too. I think they make better prints than Wal-Mart. Not a bad price either. Or you could scan them yourself or have a friend scan them and get them reprinted through an on-line photo store.

 

[jenn-]

Walmart got in big doo doo over printing copywrited pictures a short while ago. Needless to say they train their people to be over cautious when it comes to copywrited images. As for the poster with the professional looking pics by her DH, as long as you are bringing the pictures on the memory stick they were taken on, this won't be a problem. If you are bringing in something to be scanned or off a CD, you might run into more problems. My lil sis is a Walmart photo lab manager so I hear the stories from the other side of the counter as well.

 

[bostran1]

If there is a CVS or something similar to that by you, they have do-it-yourself scanners and printers. You could always just scan it yourself and have it print there for you. I don't think an employee even has to see it.

 

[jenn-]

If there is a CVS or something similar to that by you, they have do-it-yourself scanners and printers. You could always just scan it yourself and have it print there for you. I don't think an employee even has to see it.

Not true. They still have to see the final product before ringing you out. Now whether or not they really care one way or another might be a difference.

 

[dbenlee]

If there is a CVS or something similar to that by you, they have do-it-yourself scanners and printers. You could always just scan it yourself and have it print there for you. I don't think an employee even has to see it.

I know at Walgreens they do see the printed image after it has been scanned at a do-it-yourself scanner. Also, if they think it is a copyrighted photo they will not let you purchase of leave with the copy.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

Thanks for your help everyone. I think the next time I see my grandmother I will bring the pics home and take them to a local camera store that also restores and prints photos. They are expensive but worth it not to have to deal with arguing with the photo tech at Walmart. I really just wanted to go back in there armed with the knowledge and like Kyle said, tell them thanks but no thanks. This has become more of a personal quest at this point. I'm a genealogist and a scrapbooker and it's not like I'm trying to sell the images, I just want them for my family. And to preserve as much as I can, the GGgrandparents photos are in remarkable shape for being as old as they were and stuck on acidic paper and I don't want to lose them.


Oh just had a thought, at my High school we had photography class complete with dark room. Maybe I will track down the teacher and ask him, he may be able to help. My teacher isn't there anymore but I feel sure there is a new one.