Book People Archive

Re: copyright of photoreproduced text

Almost a month ago, somebody wrote on this list:
>>>    Does anybody know the extent to which a photoreproduction
>  of an uncopyrighted text can be copyrighted?
>
>   It's protected to the full, as a photo is a new artistical work.
>Microfilms of books and newspapers, for example, are so protected,

When one institution called me and asked me to remove some
reproductions that I had on my website, I acted surprised that they
would claim copyright to a reproduction photo, which was non-creative
in my mind.  They said it was a photo, and thus covered by copyright.
I then asked for the name of the photographer, so I should be able to
monitor his or her death year and wait 70 more years to be able to
publish the photos again.  The person who called me couldn't find that
name, and they never called me again.  :-)

I've never been contacted by disappointed authors, artists or
photographers, only by really big institutions and associations.

             
--
  Lars Aronsson (lars@[redacted]
  Aronsson Datateknik
  Teknikringen 1e, SE-583 30 Linkoping, Sweden
  tel +46-70-7891609
  http://aronsson.se

[Moderator: Note that earlier posts in this thread had some discussion
 on the differences in different countries' laws concerning whether 
 reproduction photos could be copyrighted at all.  - JMO]