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Blog about copyright in slides from house clearance


geogphotos

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Thanks Mark. Their final paragraph is important. I've had sellers literally offer to write anything that I want in order to try and get a sale. And there might be the temptation to think that they are taking on responsibility but that is not so. It is the buyer's job to be as sure as they can that the copyright transfer document is genuine. You have to be careful because it would not be hard for an unscrupulous trader to 'invent' some deceased relative and palm you off with whatever they have picked up, especially if it all came from one source ( making it harder to spot the deceit). 

 

I have enough to keep me going now and am as sure as I can be that all that I have is genuine - that is through taking time to have email exchanges and dialogue and in one case going to meet and buy the slides in person. 

 

I've still not made a penny but have had a few zooms!

 

 

Edited by geogphotos
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This might be of interest.  The British Copyright Council has published a 'Copyright Highway Code' - they are available for download on the Royal Photographic Society website.  Scroll down to Copyright Resources...
 
 
Some other good stuff on there as well.
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A solution would be for house clearers and auctioneers to add a contract stipulation that unless otherwise stated by the family the house clearance/sale at auction will include automatic transfer of ownership of copyright.

 

If that became standard then slides would have more economic value and with that more chance of being saved from landfill. 

Edited by geogphotos
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48 minutes ago, geogphotos said:

A solution would be for house clearers and auctioneers to add a contract stipulation that unless otherwise stated by the family the house clearance/sale at auction will include automatic transfer of ownership of copyright.

 

If that became standard then slides would have more economic value and with that more chance of being saved from landfill. 

I'm not sure that would be good enough for me. An assignment has to be signed by the rights owner, or owners, in other words, the heirs, and that sort of "unless otherwise stated" seems vague. IANAL, of course, but it might even be an unfair term, and thereby invalid. I think I'd want to deal with the heirs directly. Probably well-nigh impossible.

But of course we have to do this properly- I suspect that it's usually glossed over or ignored. Probably why I'm not trying to do it.

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40 minutes ago, spacecadet said:

I'm not sure that would be good enough for me. An assignment has to be signed by the rights owner, or owners, in other words, the heirs, and that sort of "unless otherwise stated" seems vague. IANAL, of course, but it might even be an unfair term, and thereby invalid. I think I'd want to deal with the heirs directly. Probably well-nigh impossible.

But of course we have to do this properly- I suspect that it's usually glossed over or ignored. Probably why I'm not trying to do it.

 

I am sure that a simple printed form ( yes/no)  could be created to cover these fairly straightforward points. 

 

The wider and more general issue is how to get people to value this photography so as to save it from the scrap heap.

 

Some part of the  answer to that has to be about creating economic value and without copyright that can't happen.

 

Here is what the IPO said:

 

With this in mind, it is probably worth asking the seller to provide the written proof that he is indeed the copyright holder of the slides; it is possible that this is contained within the contract he has agreed with the family. 

Edited by geogphotos
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