On 9 November 2012 08:30, Daniel Mietchen
<daniel.mietchen(a)googlemail.com> wrote:
...
their digital collection under more liberal terms than
CC BY NC. It is
of a portrait made around 1915, of someone who died before 1930. I
don't know who the painter was, nor whether or when they died. I don't
know who made the photo or whether the portrait is actually in the
museum (I suppose it is).
If the painter is unknown then the 70 year rule applies for anon works
in the UK
<http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Copyright_rules_by_territory#United_Kingdom>.
However, if it can be worked out who the painter was (i.e. the
information is knowable, not just that you or the museum don't happen
to know it), then you have to calculate from the date of death. I
think if the painter is named but date of death is unknown, then you
would assume that the painter might have lived to a record breaking
age, something like 115 years old, but I don't believe this is based
on case law and I'm unsure what advice to give in this area.
PS the photo must be a faithful two dimensional reproduction to have
no copyright in itself; if there is a mounting or frame in the
photograph then this has to be cropped out unless the frame has no
creative content.
Fae