Publishing Requests
The following FAQ is provided for parties interested in using any of the scans of vintage material on my site for publication:
How much will you charge for me to use an ad in my book/magazine?
Although I have money and time invested in each individual scan I often do not charge a monetary fee for their use - it depends on your project. However, upon granting permission to reuse these scans I do require 2 things in lieu of payment:
- Proper attribution to me/my website as the image source
- A courtesy copy of the book or publication in which my scans appear (A shipping address for the courtesy copy will be given to you upon agreement of these terms)
Can you give me a better quality copy? What about that ugly watermark?
Upon reaching an agreement and granting permission I will provide a non-watermarked, full resolution, retouched scan (300 dpi JPG) via email or direct download link.
How do I request the images?
Use the contact link on this site to send me a message. Please be sure to provide your contact information, information about the intended use of the scan, and the image(s) that you are interested in.
Are you the copyright holder?
While I am the copyright holder of photos and other content on this site, I am not the copyright holder of any scanned ads. The ownership and rights of those either remain with the copyright holder or have been released into the public domain. I provide them for educational purposes using the 'fair use' provisions of the US Copyright Act and subsequent rulings.
If a copyright holder of one of the ads presented on this site wants to have it removed all they have to do is use the contact form and provide information about which ad(s) they want removed and it will be addressed immediately.
Where did they come from?
I have sourced them from old magazines and books, scanned and retouched/restored them. In cases where the date and publication is known then they are used as the file name. The general format is company name or product name, date (in YYYYMMDD format) and then publication name. For example, a picture named "CompanyX - 19550201 Post.jpg" would be from the February 1, 1955 issue of the (Saturday Evening) Post.
Are these in the public domain? Can I get sued if I publish them?
I am not a lawyer, but the most straightforward information I have found is from the US Copyright Office.
For example, in their document titled "What works are protected?" at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf they state:
Before 1978, federal copyright was generally secured
by the act of publication with notice of copyright, assuming
compliance with all other relevant statutory conditions. U. S.
works in the public domain on January 1, 1978, (for example,
works published without satisfying all conditions for securing
federal copyright under the Copyright Act of 1909) remain in
the public domain under the 1976 Copyright Act.
In addition, their publication at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ22.pdf titled "How to Investigate the Copyright Status of a Work" states:
Works First Published Before 1978:
the Copyright Notice
General Information About the Copyright Notice
In investigating the copyright status of works first published
before January 1, 1978, the most important thing to look for is
the notice of copyright. As a general rule under the previous
law, copyright protection was lost permanently if the notice
was omitted from the first authorized published edition of a
work or if it appeared in the wrong form or position. The form
and position of the copyright notice for various types of works
were specified in the copyright statute. Some courts were liberal
in overlooking relatively minor departures from the statutory
requirements, but a basic failure to comply with the notice
provisions forfeited copyright protection and put the work
into the public domain in this country.
Absence of Copyright Notice
For works first published before 1978, the complete absence
of a copyright notice from a published copy generally indicates
that the work is not protected by copyright. For works
first published before March 1, 1989, the copyright notice is
mandatory, but omission could have been cured by registration
before or within 5 years of publication and by adding
the notice to copies published in the United States after discovery
of the omission. Some works may contain a notice,
others may not. The absence of a notice in works published
on or after March 1, 1989, does not necessarily indicate that
the work is in the public domain.
Therefore, the general rule from the US Copyright office is that if a pre-1978 advertisement did not display the copyright notification the work would not be covered under copyright protection, which put it into the public domain.
An easy to understand chart is available from Cornell University that further provides general reference using an items age, publication date, and presence of copyright mark to determine protected status at http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm.
An easy to understand chart is available from Cornell University that further provides general reference using an items age, publication date, and presence of copyright mark to determine protected status at http://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm.
Finally, even if an item was originally copyrighted that doesn't necessarily mean that it was properly renewed or still under copyright protection. The Online Books Page FAQ, especially "How Can I Tell Whether a Book Can Go Online?" and "How Can I Tell Whether a Copyright Was Renewed?" are also helpful in figuring out how to investigate the current copyright status of items that may have been copyrighted at one time.
Clearing an image for publication (if necessary) is the responsibility of the author/publisher and I take no responsibility for any liabilities that might occur as a result of publishing an image that I have sourced. The best advice I can give is that if you should get legal advice from a lawyer if you have a concern.
