Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Federico
The books from which I can cull images from are all 100 plus years old, and in many cases the publishers are long since defunct (in certain cases the books were self published). I have been told in the past, with books this old copyright would not be as big of a problem, any insight into this?
|
That is a very complicated question, actually. The term of a copyright is surprisingly long. Right now as I recall it is for the life of the author plus 75 years. However, this standard has varied over time and in different countries (many European countries permitted long terms), and the standards are just now becoming harmonized. In any event, it is quite possible for a 100+ year old work to still have an enforceable copyright. It would reside in the estate of the author, unless he assigned it to someone, like his/her publisher. When the publisher is defunct -- who knows? Legally it would be the publisher's "successor in interest," meaning whomever bought the assets of the company, or the heirs/estate of the owner(s) of the company ... and so on. Tracing the holder of a copyright can be a royal pain.
I will look into the best way to locate obscure copyright holders and get back to you. Though one might assume that, as a practical matter, the older and more obscure the work, the less likely anyone is going to climb out of the woodwork and complain about unauthorized use, in the literal legal sense everything under a certain age has a copyright owner somewhere.
I'll get back with more specifics. In the meantime, please send me the bibliographic information of any books you might pull something from, including country of original publication, and I can see what the copyright term would have been.