I think what Cary is trying to say is "welcome to the fun world of copyright!"

No, you shouldn't assume copyright was not renewed. You will need to determine (1) who the copyright holder is/was and (2) whether the copyright has lapsed. This is not always an easy task, which is why you need to document your good faith efforts (which will, of course, be exhaustive).

Carol

On Dec 9, 2011, at 2:26 PM, Cary Gordon <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Copyright law requires that you make a good-faith effort to find the
> copyright owners. If you document such effort and they sue you, this
> can weigh heavily in your favor. There are two obvious caveats: a) You
> can still get sued, not to mention annoying cease-and-desist letters;
> and 2) They could still win.
> 
> Being that we are, for the most part, not art critics, you could
> consider creating original art. You might get mocked, particularly
> after a few beers, but that's just the way we roll. Of course, if you
> buy beer, that will reduce any mock risk.
> 
> Cary
> 
> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 12:34 PM, Doran, Michael D <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> I was hoping to re-use/re-purpose a couple of 1962 Seattle World's Fair images found on the interwebs [1][2].  Both images were originally created for souvenir decals.
>> 
>> According to the U.S. Copyright Office's "Copyrights Basics" [3] section on works originally created and published or registered before January 1, 1978, "copyright endured for a first term of 28 years from the date it was secured" -- i.e. for these images, from 1962 to 1990.  It goes on to say that "During the last (28th) year of the first term, the copyright was eligible for renewal."  This however, was *not* an automatic renewal.
>> 
>> So, unless the copyright was explicitly renewed in 1990, the images are in the public domain.  Since these images were for souvenir decals (rather than something like a poster), I'm inclined to think the original copyright owner probably didn't renew the copyright.  However, I don't know who the original copyright owner is and really have no way of finding out, and therefore I can't ascertain whether or not the copyright was renewed.
>> 
>> For those with more experience in copyright, any thoughts regarding situations like this?
>> 
>> I realize this isn't a coding question, but figured I might get some helpful responses from those of y'all working in archives and various digital projects where copyright issues regularly come up.
>> 
>> ps  I've eliminated the "Century 21 Exposition" logo in my proposed reuse, if that matters (on one image, there is a registered trademark symbol next to the logo).  I'm also not retaining the original "Seattle World's Fair" text.
>> 
>> -- Michael
>> 
>> [1] http://www.flickr.com/photos/hollywoodplace/6007390480/
>> 
>> [2] http://media.photobucket.com/image/seattle%20world%2527s%20fair%20monorail/bananaphone5000/NEWGORILLA/SeattleWFDecal.jpg
>> 
>> [3] http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf
>> 
>> # Michael Doran, Systems Librarian
>> # University of Texas at Arlington
>> # 817-272-5326 office
>> # 817-688-1926 mobile
>> # [log in to unmask]
>> # http://rocky.uta.edu/doran/
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> Cary Gordon
> The Cherry Hill Company
> http://chillco.com