Any Attorney's out there?

I'm considering publishing a Coin related book. My questions is - are pictures posted on the Internet public domain, or does written permission need to be granted? I already own the coins but sometimes the posted pics are better than mine. Can I use them in my publication?

 

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the copywrite is usuall held by the individual that took the picture, or the comapny/client that had them take the image.

short answer: you can't use them without permission.

 

Can you? Of course you can, as long as you know how to do it.

The more important question is "May I legally and ethically use other people's property without their permission?"

The answer to that question should be obvious.

American Federal copyright law requires registration as a preliminary step before filing suit for infringement, but unless the author expressly dedicates the work to the public, it remains his/her intellectual property even without registration.

(I have been a member of the California bar, and admitted to practice before the federal trial and appellate courts for over 40 years; and the U.S. Supreme Court for 34 years.)

 

Thank you for the responses. I have contacted some of them. All contacted gave permission and most have asked for credit of their pics. But almost half have not responded to my E-mails. I guess I must sort them out and use my own pics. I just want to do it right and give credit where due. I'm glad I bought them and have my own sources for pics.

 

Let us know if your books gets printed...I want to write a book about ASE but it looks like it will be more of a pamphlet (Sp?)...

Speedy

 

if you download a pic of the web it most likly about 96 dpi for that is all your computer
depicts. a good pictue has to have atleast 300 dpi to give you enough resolution to print a picture on paper the pixels simply arent tight enough. even higher for puplication. check out coinworlds article about the two numismatics went to the us mint to take pics of the 10 / 1933 gold eagles.
like one pic would be 25mb.a pic of the web is not even a mb

 

The response by Roy is "Dead On"! The instant the photographer pushes the shutter button, the photograh is by Law their property. One must register a photograph as Roy mentioned, however, most professional photographers now apply digital water marks and other tracking marks onto their photos that posted on the net to prevent reproduction without payment of some sort. I myself run a product photography studio part time and place a digital mark on all my photos and they are tracked via a company called "Digimark"..if someone were to lift one of my images and post it on the web I would be alerted to its assigned mark and computer IP address that posted it.
Better off taking your own photos..or hiring a professional to do the work for you.
Good luck....

RickieB

 

Good post, RickieB

 

Photographs of coins are NOT protected by copyright.

The coin itself is in the public domain and the photograph is an actual (unchanged) image the photo is also considered in the public domain.

Having said that it would be common courtisy to credit the photographer.

http://www.coinsoftime.com/Greek/Articles/CopyrightandCoinPhotographs.htm

 

I'm not an intellectual property specialist, but if I needed one I sure as h*** wouldn't consult the author of the article you posted.

Perhaps you didn't notice the caveat at the bottom of the page:

 

With Roy on this one (coming as a photographer for many years). If you didn't take or buy (own) the image, assume you can't use it without permission. Bottom line. Some people have this odd notion that if it's on the Internet, it's public domain, and that simply isn't the case. Just because you see an image doesn't give you rights to do whatever you wish. It's amazing how many people don't realize this, or think otherwise (read: the author of that article).

 

I wouldn't go around slapping myself on the back too much and pounding my chest about the morality of the current copyright law. Other than the fact that the current law sucks in obtaining its goal, it is also largely immoral as the entire 20th century is now copyrighted by Time-Warner. If you think that is right, you need to see your psycoanalyst and reread 1984

http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/

 

Its not obvious to me (or for that matter most people evidently, including Thomas Jefferson) so please explain to me how a copy of a photo sitting on MY computer is YOUR property and how it is stealing to use it.

I await your brillence in this matter.

Ruben

 

Any attorney's out there? Let's see, the United States has 5% of the world's population and 85% of the world's attornies.

I think you will be able to find easily a hundred or so...

 

You may Use my Pictures

 

I want to chime in on this. The photo on your computer is the property of the copyright owner the same way that the Super Bowl telecast is the property of the NFL, even though you watched it on your TV. Sometime during most sports telecasts, the announcer will say something along the lines of "this telecast is the property of the league (and/or the network and/or the home team), for the private use of the viewers, and any rebroadcast in any form, without the prior written permission of the owner is prohibited." Basically, the use of the telecast is granted conditionally. You can watch it, but can't do anything with it. Same way with a photo on the Internet.

 

Actually, two things are wrong. First, the warning by the NFL is a ***BALANT*** lie since it is legal to record the game in your VCR and replay it later.

Secondly, your TV is not the internet because the images on the internet ARE copied to your computer, EVERY TIME, in order to view them. Thirdly, there are should be no limitations on what you can do with your private property with ONE caveot, the sale of copyrighted material for profit. That is how copyright was ORIGINALLY concieved, that is how most people understand it, and that is the only sustainable moral position.


The free flow of ideas and knowledge is criticle to a free society. Doing such without being able to transmit copies of information for the purpose of non-profit making speech is the lynchpin to communication in the digital age.

 

5 months have gone by since my original post. I have moved on to other things and will NOT be publishing the booklet. I tried contacting all of those that posted pics, to give them credit and only about 15% responded.
I have put together a great collection of over 200 errors, but I will not become involved in any venture that will injure another collecter. Some of you said yes and others felt I would be stealing someones work.
Perhaps if I posted my pictures of the coins that I have purchaced or found on my own web site, it could be useful to other collecters. Creating another information source surly can't hurt the hobby. I do Thank all of you for your imput. If nothing else is done - I still have a nice collection that was fun putting together.

 

<<5 months have gone by since my original post. I have moved on to other things and will NOT be publishing the booklet. I tried contacting all of those that posted pics, to give them credit and only about 15% responded>>

There you have it. A summary of the moral dilema of modern copyright law in a nutshell. The individual repeatedly finds it almost impossible to make a contribution to our knowledge and society because they relieze that they need to have a truckload of lawyers and a boatload of money to even considering publishing even a book on something as specialized as coin errors.

This is NOT what copyright is supposed to do.

Ruben

 

This discussion has drifted completely away from a coin-related topic, and comments on whether US copyright law is moral, justified, or effective at accomplishing desireable ends belongs in the Politics, Religion and World Events forum, so anyone inclined to do so should continue talking about it there.