On Wed, 25 Aug 1999, Tamika Hughes <hughes[_at_]mail.temple.edu> wrote:
>
> We hope to reproduce some ads from some "pulp fiction" magazines.
> The magazines themselves are either public domain (i.e. copyrighted
> before 1923 if copyrighted at all) or fair use (whether or not the
> pulp fiction magazines of the 1920's were copyrighted, the publishers,
> in any case, no longer exist). If copyright is controlled by the
> ad supplier and not the magazine, we still would not need to seek
> permission because there are no copyright notices printed on the ads
> themselves, so under the 1909 copyright act (as I understand it), the
> ads are then public domain. Is this correct?
Pulp fiction magazines of the 1920's were copyrighted if they were published with a copyright notice. But you're right. Magazine ads published before 1978 without a separate notice are likely in the public domain. Another grounds for their being PD is nonrenewal of their copyright. You have to check Copyright Office records to see if the advertisers filed renewals for their ads 28 years after they were published (they likely didn't).
Stephen Fishman
<sfish55[_at_]yahoo.com>
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