Vintage Promotional Photos

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Vintage Promotional Photos

1littleone1996
Avr 20, 2020, 10:12 pm

I'd like to upload some author pictures, but I'm trying to figure out how to navigate copyright. I want to stay within the law, but am having a bit of a difficult time figuring out how all this works. I have a couple author photos to upload that are pictures of pictures. That is, I used my phone to take pictures of original photos that I have.

They are vintage photos, from the 1950s and 60s. For example, I have a promotional image of a famous singing group, that I bought from a newspaper archive. I also have another photo of an actor, which was released as publicity/promotional material for a specific film (1960s).

Also, I have some high quality scans of actual publicity photos that are printed on the backs of LP covers. Is this considered cover art and ineligible for author photos, even though I'm just scanning the part that's an actual photo of the artist?

Hoping someone can help me out with the copyright laws, etc. regarding these photos and whether or not I can upload them. :)

2lilithcat
Avr 20, 2020, 10:28 pm

Not to worry. "LibraryThing now relies on the instruments and protections of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)."

What that means is that you can upload the photos, putting the credit/copyright information (if you know it) in the fields provided, and if the copyright holder objects, LT will take it down.

3littleone1996
Avr 20, 2020, 10:35 pm

Thanks lilithcat :) Would that be ethical for me to do, since I don't know for sure one way or the other about the photos? I appreciate your help and don't want to be difficult, I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing. :)

4lilithcat
Avr 21, 2020, 12:30 am

Yes, it would be okay. If there's no credit noted, I often put "uncredited photo found at . . ." And if you can't find the copyright info, you could say "copyright status unknown".

5littleone1996
Avr 22, 2020, 4:15 pm

Okay, thanks. :)