Q: Is there a determinable length of copyright for photographs in the U.S.?
I collect original physical copies of Press (news media) photos and would like to use them in a for-profit digital library. Many are fairly old, often taken before 1970. My question is how do I determine if these images retain copyright protection?
Attempting to dig up the answer through Google has led to conflicting answers.
A:
There have been different copyright laws passed at different times.
So depending on the year of creation, they may have different expiration dates.
It may also depend if the owner is an individual, or was created for a company (work for hire).
most likely if it was around 1970 they still have long way to go.
Right now things coming out of protection are from the 1920s.
A: 1970 is not that long ago in the life of copyright rights which can be the life of the photographer plus 70 years. Before you spend much more money on this project, work with copyright counsel. It may take some real digging to find out if individual photographs have come into the public domain.
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