Re: start of copyright period

On Fri, May 26, 2000, Staffan Teste <teste[_at_]blf.se> wrote:
>
> On 7 Apr 2000, Stephen Fishman <sfish55[_at_]yahoo.com> wrote:
> >
> > On Tue, 4 Apr 2000, Pat Sloane <patsloane[_at_]aol.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > I thought I understood the bare basics of copyright, but now I'm
> > > confused.
> > >
> > > An author dies, leaving extensive unpublished material.
> > >
> > > Fifty years later, the material is finally published, copyrighted
> > > by the person who edited the collection. This person has permission
> > > to publish the material, but has not contracted to share proceeds of
> > > the book with the actual owner of the manuscripts, which might be
> > > either an heir of the author or an archives to which the manuscripts
> > > were given.
> > >
> > > When does copyright begin and end?
> >
> > Copyright in an unpublished work begins when it is created. It
> > lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years.
>
> Is it really so simple? I heard it about text and music. But how
> about photos. If a photographer keeps his negative unpublished and
> somebody buy it 50 years after his dead, when does the copyright
> start and end?

It really is so simple. In your example, the photo would be protected by copyright from the moment it was created. That is to say, whomever created it would have the right to prevent its reproduction (for purposes of this discussion, I'm ignoring any fair use and/or unauthorized publication hypotheticals). This copyright would end 70 years after the "author" died, or 20 years after its first publication. While at first glance this might appear as a truncation of the copyrights to the photo, really it isn't. Copyright does not provide for exploitation for life + 70 years, only control.

Let's say I take a picture of someone famous in a compromising position, but, because I am a huge fan, I don't want the photo published. Just before I die, I tell my faithful daughter about the photo and that I don't want it published. She keeps it safe for ten years, and then mentions it to her friend, who wants to sell it to a tabloid, the famous person having recently died. My faithful daughter, ever mindful of my request, refuses and reminds her friend that if he nonetheless tries to sell the photo, she will sue him down to his last dime. The friend doesn't publish, but rumors of the photo circle the globe, and my daughter spends the next 35 years turning down offers to publish. Fifty years after my death, and five years after my daughters death, my ungrateful grandson sells the entire collection of my photographs, along with the copyright therein, for a bottle of vodka and a mostly clean glass. The photos are published. The copyright runs for the next 20 years, to the benefit of the former owner of the bottle of vodka. But the copyright has assisted my daughter for the last 50 years as well, as she attempted to follow my wishes and prevent its publication.

So, life of the author + 70 years for unpublished or published works, unless the work was created by someone who died before 1978 and first published after 1978 but before 2002, in which case the copyright lasts until 2047, which will be longer than 70 years past the life of the author.

-David

David Hale
<dhale[_at_]aggt.com> Received on Mon May 29 2000 - 17:10:27 GMT