Daniel P. B. Smith wrote:
I frequently make use of an online database, made available to me at no cost by my local public library system, which contains not merely the full text but the actual page images of The New York Times back to 1857.
Obviously there's no problem with short quotes from the text, but what about images prior to 1923?
EVERY piece of material downloaded from this database, back to 1857, contains a notice like this:
"Display Ad 7--No Title. New York Times (1857-Current file); Aug 30, 1888; [database name] Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851 - 2001) pg. 8. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission."
I'd syllogize that a) everything published before 1923 is in the public domain, and b) everything that appears in The New York Times has been publisheded, ergo c) this is in the public domain, and that the notice is just boilerplate, presumably put on everything because it is easier and less risky to put it on everything than to attempt to determine which things are under copyright (after all, a few more Sonny Bono laws and this may BE copyrighted again), and that I can safely ignore it, that I use the image freely, and that no permission is required.
Comments?
IIRC (although IANAL) scanning something (in the US) doesn't add any copyright to it...