My mom wants to use some cover art from '50s and '60s pulp fiction novels for a graphic design job she’s working on. Is the cover art copyrighted and protected, or is the art now royalty-free for anyone’s use? If it is royalty-free, does anyone know of a website you can download and buy the art from?
I can tell you that everything Cecil has written is copyrighted, but only as a horrible practical joke on the copyright examiners who have to read through it all. Your mom might want to check with the publishers of the books. Chances are that they will allow her limited publication rights if she simply requests them. If they don’t answer at all, she is pretty safe unless she intends to do something on a national scale and claim it as her own work.
The straight dope on this subject (can I say that?) is at: http://www.loc.gov/copyright/
Everything since 1923 is currently protected under the existing copyright laws. I assure you that covers from the 50s and 60s are.
Your best bet is to get in touch with the publishers or their successive companies and ask for the rights department. It’s their job to tell you how much they will charge for reprints. I doubt very much that they will allow you to reprint anything for free.
What tcburnett is telling you is that it’s OK to rob your local liquor store as long as you don’t get caught. I wouldn’t do it myself.
Everything since 1923 is currently protected under the existing copyright laws. I assure you that covers from the 50s and 60s are.
Rubbish.
Anything written in 1923 was protected for 28 years, and could be renewed for another 28 if renewed in the last year.
The Copyright office themselves ADMIT over 90% of publications were never renewed.
(They also admit that just because they don’t have the renewal, doesn’t mean it’s not been renewed. ARGH)
BTW: Back then, if there was no © Symbol, it’s quite possibly been forced into public domain.
Phil, you’re close on some things, but way off on others.
First off, anything published after 1950 has to be considered under copyright. Why? Because the copyright law of 1978 automatically extended the term of any work then currently under copyright to the author’s life plus 47. The 28-year term would have been in effect when the law changed, keeping copyright valid on those works.
That leaves 1924-1949, which is a gray area. You need to check to see if the work passed into the public domain on a case-by-case basis.
Also, there have been various revisions in the law to put some formerly PD works under copyright protection. A faulty notice may not be enough.
Getting back to the original question, it’s highly unlikely that any cover art from the 50s or 60s is PD.
Phil’s right in that I should have qualified what I said as that you should assume that everything that’s been published after 1923 to be covered by copyright until proven otherwise. Longer winded but more accurate.
So, yes, you still need to track down the publishers of these novels, because they commonly bought all rights to artwork. (There are exceptions and some artists have repurchased rights to their work.) There are fans of these magazines on the Internet who might be able to help you track them or their heirs down.
But you cannot assume that just because they are old or out of print that you can use them as you wish.
They’re horrific.
I know several people who are re-publishing CURRENT stuff. Like, stuff from 1980, because the original publisher doesn’t care.
(Or in one case, is too drugged out to notice!)
Anyhow.
One thing to remember about all this, is that it’s not about Risk of Liability, it’s risk of lawsuit.
I know one Bananna-head who republishes old books. But don’t YOU get the same idea. Genius seems to think he’s the only one ordained by God to do this, and he has a Big legal war-chest, including being a lawyer himself.
I’ve sagely advised clients to avoid his turf and go to greener pastures (His taste sucks anyway), but some people never listen to reason.
Correction, RealityChuck
Any work for hire originally published in the U.S. before 1923 is out of copyright and in the public domain.
Any work for hire originally published in the U.S. 1923-1963 is out of copyright and in the public domain if the first 28-year term of copyright was not renewed for a second term.
Any work for hire originally published in the U.S. 1964 onward is under copyright, assuming a proper copyright notice was affixed at the time of publication.
And yes, this does take into account the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998.
Sources:
http://www.unc.edu/~unclng/public-d.htm
http://copylaw.com/new_articles/PublicDomain.html
http://www.public.asu.edu/~dkarjala/publicdomain/SearchC-R.html
Okay… Now we just have to figger out How to sell stuff that’s copyright free in one country and not in another… ON THE INTERNET.
I understand you can figger out what country someone is from by the IP address. Can I also figger it out from the Domain name?
Waldoon: Are you an IP lawyer?
It’s Walloon, and no, I’m a former book editor, not an intellectual property lawyer. But my brother is an IP lawyer.
An abundance of motion pictures and television show episodes from the 1950s and 1960s that have fallen into the public domain: