Re: Digitizing Slides with No Copyright notice

> I have a question for the group regarding European copyrights. Among
> the slides that I have purchased abroad, some have copyright notice or
> a state-ment that they may not be reproduced, but some do not. What
> would be the implications of digitizing these slides, which are of art
> works in the public domain and which date before 1985? Is an art work
> created by an american artist before 1985 that is on display in a public
> place and that contains no copyright notice considered to be in the
> public domain? Comments would be appreciated.

Copyright law is based on a national treatment, hence under the Berne convention US is obliged to protect foreign materil the same way as they protect copyrighted works made by US Citizens. Hence if the material is protected unde US copyright legislation, also European material si protected (slightly depending on US law, that I am not aware of).

The question of protection under European law depends on the jurisdiction in question. Eg Norwegian law does not protect photographies as copyrighted material (but there is a _sui generis_ protection), however a photography might be a copy of a copyrighted work. Actually the question of "European law" is a question of comparative law, since there are a number of jurisdictions.

The copyright notice is irrelevant, since it is no precondition for copyright protection - so this might not help you (in any jurisdiction under the Berne convention). If there is no permission for making copies - it would amount an infringement.

Morten S Hagedal

Amanuensis i juridiske fag        |  Lecturer in law
Trondheim \konomiske H|yskole     |  Trondheim College of
                                     Economics and
                                     Business Administration