Lee, The answer to your question revolves on several different questions. First, while the magazine that the clippings are from no longer exists, it is possible that the corporate entity that PUBLISHED the magazine does still exist. And the corporate entity would be the one to actually own the copyright. Second, has the copyright been renewed or is it otherwise owned by anyone else? A copyright is tangible - it has value. You may find that the answer to your question is that the copyright is still valid, however, there is no one with an interest in enforcing that copyright. Richard ---------- Original Message ----------- From: "L. S. King" <GenealogyFreak@comcast.net> To: NDGENWEB-L@rootsweb.com Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:39:28 -0500 Subject: [NDGENWEB-L] defunct newspaper -- copyright? > Greetings all! > > I have a question and thought I'd ask here. > A person has asked if they can give me clippings from an old > newspaper that > (as far as I've been able to find out) doesn't exist anymore. He > doesn't have the means to scan them, sooooo he wants to just send > them to me. The clippings are from 1927 to 1940. If the newspaper > doesn't exist, is the copyright still in place? > > And -- if the newspaper doesn't exist, is there anyway to find out > if they were bought out without writing to every newspaper in ND? I > really don't want to take a chance on copyright infringement... > > ~Lee ------- End of Original Message -------
mannannan wrote: > > First, while the magazine that the clippings are from no longer > exists, it is possible that the corporate entity that PUBLISHED the > magazine does still exist. And the corporate entity would be the one > to actually own the copyright. Exactly. Or as I mentioned, that they were bought out by someone else, so that *another* paper now holds copyright. > > Second, has the copyright been renewed or is it otherwise owned by > anyone else? A copyright is tangible - it has value. > > You may find that the answer to your question is that the copyright > is still valid, however, there is no one with an interest in > enforcing that copyright. *sigh* I know. I hate to turn someone down who has something to offer for the website, but I don't want to run crosswise of copyright. And trying to find who might own it, if it is owned, and if they mind if we scan and post clippings of local interest on a county site is not necessarily an easy job. And I don't have the time to try to track down elusive copyright owners either -- if I had that sort of time, I wouldn't have some of my counties up for adoption. *double-sigh* Thanks for your responses. :-) ~Lee ---------- Original Message ----------- > From: "L. S. King" <GenealogyFreak@comcast.net> > To: NDGENWEB-L@rootsweb.com > Sent: Thu, 19 Feb 2004 18:39:28 -0500 > Subject: [NDGENWEB-L] defunct newspaper -- copyright? > >> Greetings all! >> >> I have a question and thought I'd ask here. >> A person has asked if they can give me clippings from an old >> newspaper that >> (as far as I've been able to find out) doesn't exist anymore. He >> doesn't have the means to scan them, sooooo he wants to just send >> them to me. The clippings are from 1927 to 1940. If the newspaper >> doesn't exist, is the copyright still in place? >> >> And -- if the newspaper doesn't exist, is there anyway to find out >> if they were bought out without writing to every newspaper in ND? I >> really don't want to take a chance on copyright infringement... >> >> ~Lee > ------- End of Original Message -------