Comments on: Who owns the copyright on photographs? http://www.gaelicimages.com/2009/06/who-owns-the-copyright-on-photographs/ Photography Information Web Site - Canon - Nikon - Olympus Tue, 11 Oct 2011 08:57:09 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: Martin Mooney http://www.gaelicimages.com/2009/06/who-owns-the-copyright-on-photographs/comment-page-1/#comment-21 Martin Mooney Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:08:34 +0000 http://www.gaelicimages.com/?p=34#comment-21 I bought a few Broken Camera's in a Box of Junk at an Auction from a Pawn Broker' Shop back in 1986. There was a Roll of film stuck in one. I developed it and now i have been told i have no right to publish the pictures which are from 1959-1960 as the Copyright belongs to an unknown Photographer or their heirs who sold the Camera i bought. This is the reply i got from The fact that no-one can now prove that they took the photos makes the rightsholder difficult to identify, but it does not change the fact that the copyright does not pass to the person who has the photographs/negatives in their possession. This makes the photographs you hold “orphan works”, that is works which are still (probably) in copyright and where the rightsholder cannot be identified. To exploit these works by publishing them, either in book format or on the internet, requires the permission of the rightsholder OR a due diligence search to show that the rightsholder is not identifiable. Kind regards Samantha Holman Executive Director Irish Copyright Licensing Agency 25 Denzille Lane Dublin 2 Tel: +353 1 662 4211 Fax: +353 1 662 4213 www.icla.ie I bought a few Broken Camera’s in a Box of Junk at an Auction from a Pawn Broker’ Shop back in 1986. There was a Roll of film stuck in one. I developed it and now i have been told i have no right to publish the pictures which are from 1959-1960 as the Copyright belongs to an unknown Photographer or their heirs who sold the Camera i bought. This is the reply i got from
The fact that no-one can now prove that they took the photos makes the rightsholder difficult to identify, but it does not change the fact that the copyright does not pass to the person who has the photographs/negatives in their possession. This makes the photographs you hold “orphan works”, that is works which are still (probably) in copyright and where the rightsholder cannot be identified. To exploit these works by publishing them, either in book format or on the internet, requires the permission of the rightsholder OR a due diligence search to show that the rightsholder is not identifiable.

Kind regards

Samantha Holman
Executive Director
Irish Copyright Licensing Agency
25 Denzille Lane
Dublin 2
Tel: +353 1 662 4211
Fax: +353 1 662 4213
http://www.icla.ie

]]>