P3D Re: Legality of old slides

[Marvin Jones <Campfire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Message text written by INTERNET:photo-3d@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>Can someone tell me if there's any legal issues to consider
if I was to take some of my old 50's vintage stereo slides
I've collected and post them on a website.The senics don't
worry me so much but the ones containing people who I
don't know or have permission from to post, well not sure
how the law would read on that.<

Although you say "my" old slides, you are obviously referring to someone
else's slides that have come into your possession. Copyright is probably
not an issue. Unlike today, when every little grocery list you jot down on
a scrap of paper is automatically considered copyrighted, in the 1950s a
copyright had to be specifically applied for, lasted only 28 years, and had
to be specifically renewed if you wanted it to run another 28 years
(although I believe it was a provision of the 1972 revision of the law that
any first-term copyrights were automatically extended to 75 years). The
chances that anyone in the 1950s would have taken the time and effort to
copyright their shapshots is pretty remote, especially if they were so
unconcerned about them that they later allowed them to fall into the hands
of a total stranger. Model releases might be a different matter, although
the chances of someone who had their picture snapped almost half a century
ago seeing it on your website, recognizing it and wanting to cause a ruckus
is pretty slight, indeed.


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