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Re: Copyright question



Thanks, Miriam, for raising a couple of points that I should clarify. This
gets rather complex, so hopefully I cna explain it adequately.

The pictures in question originated with a fairly substantial corporation.
They were taken by company photographers, in al llikelihood. This company
was bought out by another firm c. 1970. That firm eventually discontinued
all this former company's operations and, in the early 1990s, sold the
division that had acquired this comoany to two others that divided up the
operations.

In summary:

Company A's corporate photographers took the photos.
Company B acquires Comopany A as a division.
Company B phases out all former Company A operations, but keeps the division
built around it going.
Company B sells all interest in the division built from Company A to
Companies C and D.

Who owns the copyright to the photographs?

Best wishes,

Tom

----- Original Message -----
From: "Miriam Meislik" <miriam+@pitt.edu>
To: "Thomas Berry" <tberry@HCEA.NET>
Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 8:29 AM
Subject: Re: Copyright question


>
> Tom
>
> It all depends on how the photographs were taken. If they were taken by a
> photographer employed by the company, they belong to the company since the
> photographer was an employee.  If they were taken as a work for hire, it
would
> depend on the agreement between the photographer and the company. It is
> possible the company only purchased rights to use the images, the
photographer
> would then own the rights to use them.
>
> Since the company has ceased to exist, you would need to find out if it
was
> merged into another company. I recommend trying to find as much
information
> about the company as you can.  You might also try to find out who the
heirs are
> of the original owners of the company.  I believe they would be able to
sign
> over a deed of gift to you.  The antique company does not own the rights
to the
> photographs even though the images were rescued by them.
>
> Miriam
>
>
>
> Thomas Berry wrote:
>
> > We recently purchased a large collection of photographs at an auction.
The
> > photographs had been salvaged by an antiques dealer from the
> > soon-to-be-demolished buildings of a company that had been out of
business
> > for about 25 years. How is the copyright to the photos traced through
these
> > transactions?
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Thomas Berry, Archivist
> > Historical Construction Equipment Association
> > 16623 Liberty Hi Road
> > Bowling Green, Ohio 43402
> > Phone 419-352-5616
> > Fax 419-352-6086
> > tberry@hcea.net
> > http://www.hcea.net
> >
> > A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!
> >
> > To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
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> >
> > Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>
>
> --
> Miriam Meislik,MLS
> Associate Archivist
> Photograph Curator
> Archives of Industrial Society
> 400 North Lexington Avenue
> University of Pittsburgh
> Pittsburgh, PA 15260
> (412)244-7075 voice
> (412)244-7077 fax
> miriam@pitt.edu
>
> http://www.library.pitt.edu/libraries/archives/archives.html
> http://digital.library.pitt.edu/pittsburgh/index.html
>
> Everyone has a photographic memory. Some just don't have film.
> --Steven Wright
>
>
>
>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

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      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
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Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>