Tweet Photo Copyrights and Fair Use

Here is part of a longer video where Virginia Postrel discusses her problems in getting the right to use photos of Joan Crawford, Grace Kelly, and others not identified, in her latest book, The Power of Glamour.



Rick

There is an ongoing controversy (involving Hollywood and copyright? I know, improbable!) about the use of frame enlargements versus studio-photographed stills which, as we all know, are sometimes very different from the scenes they're supposed to portray. Exactly who owns what, or has the rights to what, or whose job it is to obtain the rights, is as clear as mud. There's a paper about it at http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.cmstudies.org/resource/resmgr/docs/fairusefilmstills.pdf.

Having read into the subject, all I can say is that it's every bit as complicated as everyone says, and way, way more.

Per the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a 2011 case regarding "The Wizard of Oz", publicity materials, which includes publicity stills, are in the public domain:
1) the studio sent images willy nilly to magazines/newspapers
2) the studio sent out images and did not require that they be returned to exchanges
3) the studio allowed exhibitors to buy photos and give them away.
4) the studio freely admitted in news stories that millions of people had seen images from "The Wizard of Oz" before it ever screened in theatres.

http://media.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/11/07/101743P.pdf

I have a postcard from Paramount in the 1930s to fans, stating that if they paid postage, they could have free portraits of their favorite stars. Once again, no copyright if you're giving it away.

Studios never sent the images to the US Copyright Office. Therefore, they're pd.

Several aothors that post on this site so believe they are in the public domain and do not clear them for usage in books.