[Commons-l] 100 years old images

[Cary Bass]

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Daniel Kinzler wrote:
|> Sorry, but you are wrong on several points:
|> 1. The French law is 70 years pma.
|> 2. Alain-Fournier is born in 1882, and was 18 years old in 1904.
|> 3. The picture was made in 1904, on Alain-Fournier's 18 birthday.
|
| So... how old was the *photographer* when the image was taken? Let's
use the
| exmaple from the deletion request. If the photographer was 40 in 1904
and lived
| to be 74 (not unreasonable), so he died in 1938, the Photo would only
become PD
| next year (70 years *pma*). If he was only 30 when he took the image
and died in
| 1948, it's in copyright for another 10 years. This is not taking into
account
| the extensions of copyright given for the time of the world wars by
french law
| -- a total of nearly 15 extra years of copyright. If the creator was
killed in
| either war, there's even an extension of 30 years.
|
| So, assuming PD for an image that is 100 years old means assuming the
| photographer lived no more than 30 years after taking the picture --
not a safe
| bet. For France, the situation is even worse, because of the extensions
| mentioned above.
|
| I think some rule of thumb was established at some point, but I'm not
sure what
| is was. I think 200 years would be safe, and perhaps 150 are also. but
even 120
| are not enough, IMHO.
|
| Anyway... you said we accept content that is a lot less safe than
this. Like
| what, exactly?
|
| -- Daniel

In the United States, anonymous or pseudonymous works are protected for
120 years from date of creation--this addresses this issue, and would be
a reasonable safety margin.  Besides, if someone does come back and say,
"WHOA, that's my father's estate, you can't publish it!" we'd
what...take it down?  120 years is a very good place to draw the line.

- --
Cary Bass
Volunteer Coordinator

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E-Mail: cary at wikimedia.org
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