I have a question about a photograph from the UK's Picture Post magazine that I want to reproduce in a book. The photograph is from October, 1943. My understanding is that since it is a newspaper photo from before 1957 that it is not protected by copyright. Is this correct?
I downloaded the image from the Picture Post Historical Archive managed by Gale-Cengage. My university has a subscription. According to Gale's terms of use, all copyright issues are with the original.
thanks!
Picture Post UK 1943
Re: Picture Post UK 1943
Hi mm0816,
As the photograph was taken before October1943, the law which applied was the 1911 Copyright Act, which gave a photograph a fixed term of protection of 50 years from the date it was made (ie when the photograph was taken, irrespective of when it was published). This means that the copyright term will have expired at the end of 1993. This was before the new EU legislation came into force in 1995, extending such copyright by a further 20 years. Neither the 1956 Copyright Act nor the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act changed the existing provisions which applied to any photograph made before 1957. The fact that it was a newspaper photograph does not have any additional significance.
As long as you are sure that Gale is not claiming any new copyright in the digital version of the image, there should not be any problems using the image for your book.
As the photograph was taken before October1943, the law which applied was the 1911 Copyright Act, which gave a photograph a fixed term of protection of 50 years from the date it was made (ie when the photograph was taken, irrespective of when it was published). This means that the copyright term will have expired at the end of 1993. This was before the new EU legislation came into force in 1995, extending such copyright by a further 20 years. Neither the 1956 Copyright Act nor the 1988 Copyright Designs and Patents Act changed the existing provisions which applied to any photograph made before 1957. The fact that it was a newspaper photograph does not have any additional significance.
As long as you are sure that Gale is not claiming any new copyright in the digital version of the image, there should not be any problems using the image for your book.
Advice or comment provided here is not and does not purport to be legal advice as defined by s.12 of Legal Services Act 2007
Re: Picture Post UK 1943
Thank you for the prompt and detailed response. This is an invaluable forum! 
