Copyright Aid

Hi,

I'm aware of modern Copyright Laws, but I'm unclear on pre-1911 photographs worldwide, where you might not own the original.

I'm painting the portraits of those photographed before 1911, many photo of which I own. I would also like to create portraits from photographs of the same time period, but which I don't own. My query could be split in two:

1. If I own the original photograph and it was created before 1911 (most being Victorian) do I have the right to paint those portrayed?

2. If I don't own the photograph, again pre-1911, am I allowed to create a portrait of those in the image? Especially, if I'm working from someone else's digital scan of the photo? For context these apply to digital scans of antique photos from USA owners.

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Hi LemonYellow and welcome

In the UK photographs taken before 1 July 1912 (when the 1911 Copyright Act came into force) were subject to the protection given by Section 1 of the 1862 Fine Art Copyright Act. This provided for a term of the lifetime of the author plus seven years from the end of the year of his death. Once the 1911 Copyright came into force, any photographs which were still in copyright on the commencement date automatically became subject to the new provisions of section 21 of that Act, namely that they enjoyed a fixed term of 50 years from the date they were made and then ceased to be protected. And so we can be fairly sure that no photograph from that period is still in copyright today.

I think you can ignore any claims to a new copyright having be created by scanning old photographs. Scanning lacks sufficient human creative input to qualify for copyright. You can therefore go ahead with making your versions of the portraits, whether or not you own the original image.

Hi Andy

Thank you for your warm welcome and help, it's truly appreciated and a great relief to know regarding copyright. I look forward to painting them.