This is sorta off-topic, but here goes: I have a small stack of a dozen or so early 1950s custom car magazines. Most of them are ***les that are long-dead (no "Hot Rod" or "Rod and Custom"). Some of them were in very nice shape when I got them, and some were not, but they are all starting to fall apart from me reading them. This got me to thinking: I have a scanner, I have a computer, and I can set up a website for free at work. Can I scan the entire magazines onto a website without getting into any copyright trouble? It would be free access for all. There would be no money or profit involved, and in fact the whole site would be "for research purposes" (I work at a university). Yes? No? Maybe?
Yes, no, or maybe. funny story....I occasionally scan pages from Hot Rod magazines (from issues at least a few years old), then put them on my web site, and post the images inline on the Hot Rod magazine forum! the guys from the magazine apparently have no problem with it, they have read the posts and said nothing. I think the only likely problem is if one of the authors, or their estate, finds it they could conceiveably ask you to remove some of the material.
I think the copyright limit is about 50 years... that's how Fossil Co. gets away with using old magazine ads on their designs!! Should be fine! If at the very least they'll ask you to pull it! No problem!
it's complicated http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_domain#United_States_law United States law In the United States, copyright law has changed several times since the founding of the country. It is held under Feist v. Rural that Congress does not have the power to re-copyright works that have fallen into the public domain. Eldred v. Ashcroft transcript However, re-copyrighting has happened before. "After World War I and after World War II, there were special amendments to the Copyright Act to permit for a limited time and under certain conditions the recapture of works that might have fallen into the public domain, principally by aliens of countries with which we had been at war." (Testimony of Dorothy Schrader, general counsel of the U.S. copyright office, hearing for H.R. 1623, serial 100/50) Works created by an agency of the United States government are public domain at the moment of creation. Examples include military journalism, federal court opinions (but not necessarily state court opinions), congressional committee reports, and census data. However, works commissioned by the government but created by a contractor are still subject to copyright, and even in the case of public domain do***ents, availability of such do***ents may be limited by laws limiting the spread of cl***ified information. Before 1978, unpublished works were not covered by the federal copyright act. This does not mean that the works were in the public domain. Rather, it means that they were covered under (perpetual) state copyright law. The claim that "pre-1923 works are safe" is only correct for published works; unpublished works are under federal copyright for at least the life of the author plus seventy years. If they were created before 1978 but first published before 2002, the works have federal copyright protection until 2047. The public domain began to receive widespread attention after David Lange's seminal law review article, "Recognizing the Public Domain," which was published in volume forty-four of Law & Contemporary Problems in 1981. Until the Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988, the lack of a proper copyright notice would force an otherwise copyrightable work into the public domain, although for works published between 1978 and 1989, this defect could be cured by registering the work with the Library of Congress within 5 years of publication. After 1988, an author's copyright in a work begins when it is fixed in a tangible form; neither publication nor registration is required, and a lack of a copyright notice does not place the work into the public domain. Critics of copyright term extensions have said that Congress has achieved a perpetual copyright term "on the installment plan." Statement of Professor Peter Jaszi, The Copyright Term Extension Act of 1995: Hearing on S.483 Before the Senate Judiciary Comm., 104th Cong.
I think you are OK. I know of a guy that has collected complete sets of two long out of print magazines and scanned them to PDF. He sells them on a CD for a very low cost and has also made them available free for download. I can't see how it would be any different that a library scanning or microfilming old newspapers.
There are copyright laws, sure... but the real purpose of them is so your not trashing the authors good name by using it or especially, making money from their efforts. Copyright laws do expire though, if the author or owner of the rights doesn't renew, they become what you call 'public domain'. The period for this depends on the material and can be in force anywhere from between 20-70 years. If your not making any income off the otherwise, outdated material (or causing them to lose any) you shouldn't expect anything more serious than a request by them to remove it- then again I'm not much of a mechanic and even less a lawyer.
I scanned and have posted over the years recent pages from a number of current mags on the HAMB and RRT and no one has said anything.
I wish someone would, otherwise it will end up lost. So nate, that's basically a "no", right? Beach Bum: How did this other guy do it? How is he selling the stuff and how is he offering it for free download (and where? ). And what about The Old Car Manual Project stuff? They've got a lot of published stuff up and have been at it for a long while. Not much of it is pre-1923. However, it's hosted out of Canada, so that date probably means nothing up here. I say do it if you can find a way. You'd be doing the world a favour.
I had a professor once that told me a patent was only as good as the lawyers who defend it, I suppose it's the same with copyright. It might not be legal, but if there's no one around to tell you to stop... Someone could always ask permission or buy the rights, but I doubt that happens much. I also think intent has something to do with it, but even if you're not selling it, once you make that scan you're probably breaking copyright. As an art guy I don't really like copying stuff, but it is a pretty grey issue
I'm going to go for it! (And as for some of the replies, the reason I thought it might be a problem is I want to do the entire magazine, not just a few photos or pages.) I will see about getting started, and when I get it up and running I will definitely post a notice here on the HAMB. (And if it goes well, maybe people can start sending in other issues to scan?) It will take me a while, but everyone here will be the first to know about it when it does exist.
Being the publisher of Speed & Chrome Illustrated Magazine. I was not to happy when articles from the magazine popped up on the HAMB. Some one did scan them in and posted for all to see. The intention was to post the info for all to see because they liked the content. As a business person, when what you are trying to sell gets posted online for free, it sorta defeats the idea of making money and therefore not allowing further issues to be produced. I know what you are asking is different but I thought I would throw in my two cents worth. It is copyright infringement, unless it is expired. You need to find out, or you could get into trouble.
First of all 53 Hemi Desoto, I really enjoy your magazine. However, I thought you no longer were in business since I can't find it anywhere around me anymore. Second, I can see where you would have a beef with this idea BUT we are talking about magazines that I'm guessing are 30-50 years old. Correct me if I'm wrong, but your issue is that if people are scanning and posting your mag for others, then others aren't going to the newstand and buying it. I think we are comparing apples to oranges here. The mags he is talking about scanning and posting are NO longer available for sale to the general public. I think it is a great idea and I will definitely have submissions. I have started scanning mags with these intentions but have had no outlet for them. Keep us posted!
I work in a library and we have to deal with this stuff all the time. If someone owns the copyright and they care, they will send you a cease and desist order. For the most part, making a copy of an old article and posting it in a forum isn't a problem (as long as you aren't making money off it), but making a copy of an entire magazine is, if it is still in copyright. And copyright law is complicated. You can go ahead and put it out there and if no one says shut it down, great. If you do get contacted, they will say take down Such & Such Magazine for these specific dates. Then you can leave everything else up. Who knows, many others may donate to the cause. I also have several old issues and have thought about doing something like this to preserve the info, though most of mine are late 50s - early 60s.
I would think it would fall under "Fair Use", so there shouldn't be a problem. AS LONG AS: #1-you are not making money off the deal, #2-not costing the publisher money (see above), #3-give credit to the original author and publisher. Research "Fair Use" as it relates to Copyrights to make up your own mind.
Even though the mag isnt in production doesnt mean that the copyright does not apply. Thats all I am trying to say. Like I said in my first post I know what I am talking about is a bit different but the same rules apply. You need to find out if someone still owns the rights to those old mags. They may not, then your fine. Even if they do you still may be fine if they dont care and your not profiting. Like me, I was trying to profit but I like and support the HAMB so I let it slide when it happened. We are still in business but are not actively publishing right now. I am glad you like the mag, we hope to have something new out in the near future. I also love the idea of preserving the past, we need to keep this alive for generations to come. Thanks,
Remember that something like that might get a lot of hits if you post links on a popular site like the HAMB. If you are going to be paying for the bandwidth, note what happened here yesterday with the JJ and tank engine/mustang posts. What was it, 4 million hits in 6 hours? Slonaker
How would this be any worse than the guy selling you these old mags for $20, when the orignal cost was probably like $0.50. I say give it a go, just be sure to give credit where credit is due. Also, I'd probably stay away from any defunct mags that were run by publishers that are still in operation. What the worst that could happen? http://archives.cnn.com/2001/LAW/02/20/napster.settlement.03/index.html
"Fair use" does not mean you are not making money. If the copyright holder does not want you to publish his material on the web, he has the right to stop it, even if his only reason is he is a jerk. You can make yourself a backup copy and possibly give one copy to a friend. That is "fair use." The only thing that makes this remotly possible is that the magazines are 50 years old, and out-of-business. What are the magazines? I'll try to do a copyright owner search.
The difference is that one copy of the magazine has left your hands and is now in someone elses hands, where posting on the web thousands of copies can be made or accessed. Not worse, but different in copyright law.
I am going ahead with this project, but I will be proceding more carefully than I had hoped. To answer some of the questions: Yes, these are all 50 years old or older. Yes, I want to copy entire magazines. No money will be made. I am currently in the process of finding out how to set it all up as a research archive. I will post more info as I get it. (And finally: YES, I would be happy to take donations from outsiders to add to the archive. When there is one. Please don't anyone send me anything now.)
OK, I did some research into this and I bet you're going to be OK with it. For works produced before 1964, if copyright was not renewed on the 28th year, then it is in public domain. My guess is, most of these were not renewed unless bought up by someone like Peterson Publishing. I checked at http://www.copyright.gov/records/cohs.html for ***les like rodding & restyling and nothing came up. Not that this is a fool-proof list.
You should be fine. 1. if they are over 50 years old you are fine. 2. if you are not making money off of it most authors will be fine if you give them credit. 3. Worst that will happen at first IF you are not making money on it and someone gets mad is you will get a cease and desist letter stating which items you need to remove. This would come from the author or a lawyer. I have two of these from playing unreleased music on the radio...oops. 4. make sure and send me a PM when you do put the site up!!!! look at it as preserving/do***enting the past.
The Jalopy Journal
