Copyright and the post-1963 obit | The Legal Genealogist

The rest of the story

So, yesterday The Legal Genealogist reviewed the basic rules on copyrights for obituaries published in American newspapers from the time in which the memory of man runneth not to the contrary up until the end of 1963. And that prompted one reader, ?Perplexed in Peoria,? to wonder if somehow time stood still.

?My memory may not be what it used to be,? Perplexed wrote. ?But I have a distinct recollection that the sun rose in the east on the morning of January first 1964. And at least a fuzzy recollection that it continued to rise for a good number of mornings after that. Surely obituaries published after 1963 have some copyright issues as well??

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Copyright remains an issue for everything published starting in 1964. It?s just that the copyright terms for things published after 1963 are so long that, whenver I?m asked when the copyright on something published then expires, my usual response is: ?Not in my lifetime.?

Recognizing, however, that some of you whippersnappers out there are going to outlive me, let?s review the copyright basics for obituaries published after 1963.

Now before we do this, let me emphasize that all of the factors that cut in favor of being able to use a copyrighted obituary that we went over yesterday apply no matter when the obituary was published. If you have permission, you have permission, whether it?s permission for a copyrighted article from 1962 or or one from 2012. If your use is a fair use, then it?s still a fair use no matter whether the newspaper was published 50 years ago or yesterday.

Okay? on to the rules for the rest of the story.

Published 1964 through 1977 with notice: If the obituary was published in a newspaper that included a copyright notice somewhere in its pages ? and remember: it will be a very rare case where the newspaper didn?t include the notice, since it was required for many many years by copyright law ? then for an article or photograph or obituary published during that time period, the copyright will expire 95 years after it was published.

So, since copyrights expire on the 31st of December of the calendar year in which the term ends, for an obituary published on Perplexed?s bright sunny 1 January 1964, the copyright won?t expire until 31 December 2059. And for an obit published 31 December 1977, the copyright won?t expire until 31 December 2072. Um? math isn?t my strong point, but I do believe that?s 60 years from now. And without some significant breakthrough in medical science, I somehow don?t expect to be around at that point.

Written and published 1978 to 1 March 1989 with notice: If the obituary you?re interested in was written and published in a newspaper that included a copyright notice sometime during this period, then if the copyright owner is an individual author (remember what we said yesterday about the possibility that a family member actually wrote the obit), the copyright lasts for 70 years. But if the obit was written as a work of corporate authorship ? and an article by a journalist working for a newspaper falls into that definition ? then the copyright lasts for the shorter of 95 years from publication or 120 years from when it was written.

So for an obit authored by the newspaper staff and published on 1 January 1978, the copyright is going to last until 31 December 2073. And for a similar obit published 28 February 1989, the copyright lasts until 31 December 2084. If the obit was written, say, in 1970 for a famous person, but the person didn?t die until 1975, you?d use the publication date plus 95 years because that?d be shorter than 120 years after it was written.

Written and published after 1 March 1989: If the obituary you want to use was written and published anytime after 1 March 1989, then the rule is simply 70 years after the death of an individual author or, for a corporate authored work, 95 years from publication or 120 years from when it was written. Copyright protection became automatic at that point, and authors or publishers didn?t have to put a copyright notice in the document to get protection.

So for an obit published in, say, 2000, the earliest expiration is 2070 if the copyright is held by an individual author and if the newspaper wrote the obit at the time, then it wouldn?t expire until 2095.

There are a couple of wrinkles for things that were created ? written ? before 1978 but were published later. They don?t tend to affect things that are as time-related as obituaries, but it?s at least theoretically possible. For something created before 1978 and published before 1 March 1989, as long as it had a copyright notice, it gets the same 70 ? 95 ? 120 years of protection or until 31 December 2047, whichever is longer. Anything created before 1978 and published between 1 March 1989 and 2002, it?s the same period but no notice was necessary ? copyright protection would be automatic. And for anything published after 2002, no matter when it was created, it?s the 70 ? 95 ? 120 years of protection, and no notice is required.

So? see what I mean? ?Not in my lifetime.?

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Source: http://legalgenealogist.com/blog/2012/09/13/copyright-and-the-post-1963-obit/

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