Discussion:
What is the name of your state?Massachusetts
I want to use an ad in my art work from the National Confectioner's Association first published in the Sat. Eve Post in 1929. The original ad has a circle with the number 29 and the initials NCA next to it on the bottom corner of the page. Is this a copyright symbol? It was reprinted in 2001 by the Manufacturing Confectioner (a candy journal) and copies of the ads were handed out to the public at a a convention. The new version has no copyright-like symbols on it. The ad gives advice on how candy is healthy for you and several doctors are quoted and footnoted. There is a small illustration included as well.
What do you think? I have emailed the National Confectioner's Assoc. to see if they still have the rights to them but I haven't heard yet and I'm anxious to hear your opinion.
Thanks
Answer:
You will have to wait for your relpy as they would be the ones to know. I have observed a similar situation while doing some copying at a printers, where a reproduction was being ordered and the printer did require some sort of permission from the original owner. I also know that most self-copy stores have signs about copyright laws.
Answer:
Ahhhh, the Post. A publication near and dear to my heart (and bank account).
While I would advise waiting for information from the NCA, I doubt they will be able to give you a definative answer. First, the Post has actively renewed a great number of copyrights since 1925 including articles by Somerset Maugham, Nunnally Johnson, P.G.Wodehouse, J.P. Marquand and Agnes Burke Hale, not to mention a few "lesser known" writers.
However, since this was advertising copyright, I would suggest you contact the original confectioner since they would be the ones holding copyright to the advert.
The Post may be able to help in finding them or their agent should they be out of business.
Answer:
I just read that a "work made for hire" copyright expires 75 years after it's first publication. Do you think that an advertisement in a magazine falls under the "work for hire"
catagory?
Answer:
I just read that a "work made for hire" copyright expires 75 years after it's first publication. Close. It's actually 95 years from date of publication, or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter. A good chart of copyright terms can be found here:
Do you think that an advertisement in a magazine falls under the "work for hire" Probably, but also probably not how you are thinking. A work for hire is defined in either 17 U.S.C. 100 or 101 (can't remember which) and generally requires that the work be prepared for an employer by an employee. So, if the ad were produced at the direction of the Post by an empoyee of the Post, then it would be a work for hire of the Post. However, it is much more likely that the ad was produced by an agency other than the post, and THAT agency would hold the copyright -- then it just depends on whether the ad was developed for the agency was a true "work for hire" or is some other type of work. For example, if the work was done by a free-lance ad guy, then the term could be as long as life of the author + 70 years -- even if the copyright was later acquired by a company.
Answer:
Is there a rule that a copyright symbol must appear on the ad? On one ad there is a circle with the number 29 in it. Is that a copyright symbol or just a reference to the year it was published (1929)? I have another ad from 1928 that has a C in a circle which I recognize as a typical copyright symbol.
Answer:
First off, just FYI, since 1978 copyright notices are no longer required (although there are some advantages to having them anyway).
Is there a rule that a copyright symbol must appear on the ad? On one ad there is a circle with the number 29 in it. Is that a copyright symbol or just a reference to the year it was published (1929)? I have another ad from 1928 that has a C in a circle which I recognize as a typical copyright symbol. The copyright notice does not need to appear on the ad. For "collective works," like a magazine, a single copyright notice covers EVERYTHING inside the work, regardless of whether or not all of the copyrights are owned by the same entity or not. So, a particular add MAY contain a copyright notice, but the lack of a copyright notice is not fatal, since the ad would be covered under the "blanket" notice of the magazine itself.
Look here: for more than you ever wanted to know about copyright notices...