On 4/6/98, Charles Oppenheim <c.oppenheim[_at_]lboro.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> John Sankey <bf250[_at_]freenet.carleton.ca> wrote:
> >
> > My grandfather was the last survivor of those who sailed on
> > the British clipper Cutty Sark under the British flag. The
> > National Maritime Museum has over the years collected many
> > photos of the ship and of her crew. They claim copyright
> > and the right to restrict further reproduction of photos
> > of my own grandfather, of which the family still has copies!
> >
> > I still feel that 50 years after creation a work should be
> > free of copyright restriction. It's only 17 years for
> > patents, after all.
>
> I presume you mean the National Maritime Museum in the UK. In the UK,
> the lifetime of copyright in old unpublished photos is 70 years from
> the year of creation or from publication if the photo was published.
> Assuming the photos were created/publishede more than 70 years ago,
> they are out of copyright, and so the NMM cannot claim copyright in
> them.
>
> However, the NMM would be entitled to restrict people from copying the
> particular photographs they have in their posession, but that is no
> different from my choosing to stop anyone making copies of photos that
> happen to be in my house.
Assuming the phographs are not over 70 years old, would not the copyright in the photographs belong to the phtographer and not to the NMM, unless the NMM can show a transfer of the copyright from the phtographer to the NMM. The mere collection of photgraphs by NMM does not necessarily mean that possession of a the photograph gives to the possessor a copyright in the photograph.
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: Alan D. Sugarman Federal Appeals on Disc tm CD-ROM :: :: President Opinions of US Courts of Appeals :: :: 1993 to Date - All Circuits :: :: HyperLaw, Inc. Registered Trademark :: :: P.O. Box 1176 DO NOT SHORT CIRCUIT YOUR CLIENTS :: :: New York, NY 10023 :: :: sugarman[_at_]hyperlaw.com 212-787-2812 212-496-4138(fax) :: :: :: :: http://www.hyperlaw.com :: :: :: :: /// /// /// [R] :: :: /// /// /// :: :: /// /// /// :: :: //////////////// /// :: :: //////////////// /// :: :: /// /// /// :: :: /// /// /////////// :: :: /// /// /////////// :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Received on Tue Apr 07 1998 - 16:01:18 GMT
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