Posted by Heather on September 20, 2004 at 23:17:01 from 153.107.47.81 user heather.
In Reply to: Re: Copyright & Dick's Bird Book posted by John Wilson on September 20, 2004 at 13:12:59:
I need firstly to say that the following information is based on my experience with the Australian Copyright Act, which is based on the British one, and much of it is still applicable to the UK, Canada etc. with minor variations.
If the book is still in ©, i.e. it is less than 70 years (currently 50 years in Australia) since the death of the author, you have to apply to © holder (or the estate) for permission. They can sometimes be very difficult to trace. (I should know; I do this for a living!). However, you have to make every effort and keep records of your efforts in order to cover yourself if the rights’ holder does contact you.
Even just for distribution to TARS members, you can’t reproduce any part of the work without permission (or without a reasonable attempt to gain permission). Just because it is a “small distribution for no profit”, it is no excuse under the copyright acts of various countries, which are signatories to the Berne Convention. Any distribution to TARS members could probably not be regarded as “private use”.
The fact that the work is out of print is also not relevant, unless you are reproducing material under an educational licence.
You can’t just reverse an illustration (a complete work in itself, by the way) and hope that the copyright owner won’t notice! If you can identify the original, you should be applying for permission.
Peter H, as to your comment about “officialese”, copyright is NOT just a matter of courtesy, it is legally enforceable. Also, you are confusing ownership of copyright with ownership of the work in your reference to galleries. Most galleries do not own the copyright in works which they house. They quite often don’t even own the work; they just give it wall space.
I was very pleased to see a proper acknowledgements page in the latest offering from Amazon Publications, “The Best of Childhood”, something which was missing from their previous publication.