Copyright Vintage magazines

[Caffolive]

hello,

I have many vintage magazines from as early as 1930s -1970s. Is it possible to upload the images from these magazines onto Alamy and make money from them? How does this work in terms of copyright? I ask because there are many similar images on this site. Any wise words would be gratefully received.

[Cryptoprocta]

On 16/08/2021 at 19:32, Caffolive said:

hello,

I have many vintage magazines from as early as 1930s -1970s. Is it possible to upload the images from these magazines onto Alamy and make money from them? How does this work in terms of copyright? I ask because there are many similar images on this site. Any wise words would be gratefully received.

Everything depends on the country of origin of the magazines and the photographs.

For example, in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-notice-digital-images-photographs-and-the-internet/copyright-notice-digital-images-photographs-and-the-internet

Other countries are different. Be careful with France for whom war service extends the number of years ...

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Cryptoprocta

[geogphotos]

My understanding - for what it is worth - is that the length of copyright for typographical arrangements is 25 years.

 

But if are talkng about photos/illustrations then it is life + 70 years

 

 

"There is no copyright in the typographical arrangement of any edition published for the first time before 1 June 1957. It was first introduced under the 1956 Copyright Act and continued in The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the CDPA). The CDPA defines a published edition as ‘a published edition of the whole or any part of one or more literary, dramatic or musical works’: artistic works are not protected. The duration of the typographical right is 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published."

Edited August 18, 2021 by geogphotos

[Martyn]

For what it's worth, I had images removed by Alamy of the front and centre pages of the 1969 moon landings that were in the Daily Mirror ... apparently the newspaper's lawyers had a moan about copyright infringement, not for the photos in the article as, ironically, they were distributed freely by NASA, but because it infringed their page layout design ... given that the Daily Mirror circulation has been dwindling for years, I would have thought they would welcome all of the free publicity they could get !!

[meanderingemu]

3 hours ago, geogphotos said:

My understanding - for what it is worth - is that the length of copyright for typographical arrangements is 25 years.

 

But if are talkng about photos/illustrations then it is life + 70 years

 

 

"There is no copyright in the typographical arrangement of any edition published for the first time before 1 June 1957. It was first introduced under the 1956 Copyright Act and continued in The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 (the CDPA). The CDPA defines a published edition as ‘a published edition of the whole or any part of one or more literary, dramatic or musical works’: artistic works are not protected. The duration of the typographical right is 25 years from the end of the calendar year in which the work was first published."

 

 

if i understand well, you have the copyright of the arrangement itself, but in addition you have also to be wary of the copyright of the content of the magazine.

 

 

So an image of a magazine from 50 years ago, featuring a picture from 150 years ago (photog dead 100+ year), could be outside copyright protection and be allowed

[Graham]

On 18/08/2021 at 14:12, meanderingemu said:

So an image of a magazine from 50 years ago, featuring a picture from 150 years ago (photog dead 100+ year), could be outside copyright protection and be allowed

Not sure a 150 year old picture would pass Alamy's QC - not enough megapixels then 😁

[meanderingemu]

2 minutes ago, Graham said:

Not sure a 150 year old picture would pass Alamy's QC - not enough megapixels then 😁

 

that is actually something i worried a few times, having part of my image contain an image that wouldn't pass QC.  I remember a few that i buried deep in a large uploads praying it wouldn't be QCed.  

[geogphotos]

That is what the Archive collection is for. No QC.

[meanderingemu]

only an option if you have access. so OP starting would need to build portfolio of images first, to get Alamy to review, and then decide to allow it. I'm not sure how many they accept- never tried.   I do remember that when i tried for Reportage it was a chicken and egg issue (then pandemic hit, and i lost drive, and then contract change and well....)

[zxzoomy]

On 17/08/2021 at 22:27, Cryptoprocta said:

Everything depends on the country of origin of the magazines and the photographs.

For example, in the UK:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/copyright-notice-digital-images-photographs-and-the-internet/copyright-notice-digital-images-photographs-and-the-internet

Other countries are different. Be careful with France for whom war service extends the number of years ...

 

Copyrightaid says this (re the uk) , noting the difference between photos and artwork, like advertisement designs and artwork covers: "If you know that a particular image was definitely a photograph, and that it would have been taken before 1945, then you can rely on the special provision in section 21 of the 1911 Copyright Act which provided that copyright in photographs only lasted for 50 years. However this did not apply to drawings or engravings, where the term was based on the artist's lifetime, plus 50 years after their death. This post mortem period was later extended to 70 years. The reason 1945 is the cutoff is because later EU legislation said that any photograph still in copyright in 1995 (ie 50 years from 1945) would henceforward be subject to the same lifetime plus 70 years terms which applied to other works. "

 

One also has to beware (I think) of photos taken pre 1944 that have been reprinted at a later date (eg in a book).  Normally, according to Copyrightaid, one is ok to consider uk photos taken 1944 and prior to that to be out of copyright. I think it's best to err on the cautious side. 

[Caffolive]

On 19/08/2021 at 22:49, zxzoomy said:

Copyrightaid says this (re the uk) , noting the difference between photos and artwork, like advertisement designs and artwork covers: "If you know that a particular image was definitely a photograph, and that it would have been taken before 1945, then you can rely on the special provision in section 21 of the 1911 Copyright Act which provided that copyright in photographs only lasted for 50 years. However this did not apply to drawings or engravings, where the term was based on the artist's lifetime, plus 50 years after their death. This post mortem period was later extended to 70 years. The reason 1945 is the cutoff is because later EU legislation said that any photograph still in copyright in 1995 (ie 50 years from 1945) would henceforward be subject to the same lifetime plus 70 years terms which applied to other works. "

 

One also has to beware (I think) of photos taken pre 1944 that have been reprinted at a later date (eg in a book).  Normally, according to Copyrightaid, one is ok to consider uk photos taken 1944 and prior to that to be out of copyright. I think it's best to err on the cautious side. 

Thanks for this!

Correct me if I am wrong.....So, I understand from section 21 that it is possible to upload an image of say, a front cover of 'Woman' magazine 1951 onto Alamy and that would be ok. As 50 years has passed since the photo has been taken. Plus the 25 years has passed for the layout of the page... like this contributer:

https://www.alamy.com/front-cover-of-woman-magazine-for-13th-october-1951-image226748974.html?pv=1&stamp=2&imageid=44753BEC-A89D-439F-A278-494CFC939106&p=289183&n=0&orientation=0&pn=1&searchtype=0&IsFromSearch=1&srch=foo%3dbar%26st%3d0%26pn%3d1%26ps%3d100%26sortby%3d2%26resultview%3dsortbyPopular%26npgs%3d0%26qt%3dwoman%20magazine%26qt_raw%3dwoman%20magazine%26lic%3d3%26mr%3d0%26pr%3d0%26ot%3d0%26creative%3d%26ag%3d0%26hc%3d0%26pc%3d%26blackwhite%3d%26cutout%3d%26tbar%3d1%26et%3d0x000000000000000000000%26vp%3d0%26loc%3d0%26imgt%3d1%26dtfr%3d%26dtto%3d%26size%3d0xFF%26archive%3d1%26groupid%3d%26pseudoid%3d%26a%3d%26cdid%3d%26cdsrt%3d%26name%3d%26qn%3d%26apalib%3d%26apalic%3d%26lightbox%3d%26gname%3d%26gtype%3d%26xstx%3d0%26simid%3d%26saveQry%3d%26editorial%3d%26nu%3d%26t%3d%26edoptin%3d%26customgeoip%3dGB%26cap%3d1%26cbstore%3d1%26vd%3d0%26lb%3d%26fi%3d2%26edrf%3d0%26ispremium%3d1%26flip%3d0%26pl%3d

Edited August 21, 2021 by Caffolive
spelling mistake

[zxzoomy]

I am no expert but my understanding is that is not out of copyright as the artwork of the cover needs 70 years since the death of the artist: "However this did not apply to drawings or engravings, where the term was based on the artist's lifetime, plus 50 years after their death. This post mortem period was later extended to 70 years."  Whether Woman magazine cares I don't know. (Woman is an English weekly magazine launched in 1937.) Nor do we know when the artist died. I advise joining Copyrightaid and asking the question. 

Edited August 21, 2021 by zxzoomy
addition

[Cryptoprocta]

On 16/08/2021 at 19:32, Caffolive said:

hello,

I have many vintage magazines from as early as 1930s -1970s. Is it possible to upload the images from these magazines onto Alamy and make money from them? How does this work in terms of copyright? I ask because there are many similar images on this site. Any wise words would be gratefully received.

Also be aware that just because something is on Alamy doesn't mean it's legal.

Unlike at least one other well-known site, images submitted to Alamy are not inspected for IP, only for IQ*.

We, the submitters, bear all of the responsibility if we submit files infringing others' rights.

*(Intellectual Property vs Image Quality).

[Caffolive]

22 hours ago, zxzoomy said:

I am no expert but my understanding is that is not out of copyright as the artwork of the cover needs 70 years since the death of the artist: "However this did not apply to drawings or engravings, where the term was based on the artist's lifetime, plus 50 years after their death. This post mortem period was later extended to 70 years."  Whether Woman magazine cares I don't know. (Woman is an English weekly magazine launched in 1937.) Nor do we know when the artist died. I advise joining Copyrightaid and asking the question. 

Thank you, yes it's better to be sure before doing anything. Thank you. I will look into Copyrightaid

[Caffolive]

Thank you, Cryptoprocta. That useful to know re Almay and the IP versus Image Quality.

14 minutes ago, Cryptoprocta said:

Also be aware that just because something is on Alamy doesn't mean it's legal.

Unlike at least one other well-known site, images submitted to Alamy are not inspected for IP, only for IQ*.

We, the submitters, bear all of the responsibility if we submit files infringing others' rights.

*(Intellectual Property vs Image Quality).