On Sun, Mar 23, 2008 at 6:26 PM, Newyorkbrad (Wikipedia) newyorkbrad@gmail.com wrote:
It seems to me that common sense should be used in this as in all other matters. A 60-year-old photograph that has never been the subject of any claim of ownership and which has been repeatly used in multiple media around the world without challenge is freely usable in any practical sense.
Newyorkbrad
You would think so, but people have challenged them nevertheless. An editor who's knowledgeable about images told me it was because the Geman photo agency Ullstein Bild, http://www.topfoto.co.uk/aboutus/suppliers/ullstein/ullstein.html who claim ownership of some WWII images, had made threatening noises to the Foundation. Apparently that made people nervous even about images the agency had no claim over.
The situation hasn't been helped by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum routinely claiming copyright of images on their website, even when there's no reason to suppose they own the copyright, which meant editors who wanted to challenge the images could point to that copyright claim. We'd write to the museum to get clarification, but usually wouldn't get a response. It's been an ongoing problem for years.