Copyright Aid

In the 1960s, a dinner was held to celebrate the 90th birthday of a famous lady author. She was British, but with US connections.

Various archive materials for the author are held by a British national institution and others by a US university: the guest book for the dinner is held at the latter. Working in collaboration, the university and the institution have now approached the trustees of the author's literary estate seeking permission to digitise certain archived items, including the guest book.

Obviously - at least I assume so - the copyright in the guest book was never vested in the author, and hence never passed to her estate, so presumably it's not a matter for the trustees. But that then raisses the question, whose copyright is it? (And in practical terms, what is the likelihood that anyone would raise objections anyway - or would the answer to that question cut no ice, given the risk-averse nature of many institutions?)

Hi champagnecharlie and welcome to the forum,

If the guest book only consists of signatures then there won't be any copyright, as these are treated as facts and so would be unprotectable. However if the guests wrote small inscriptions in honour of the occasion, each guest would own the copyright in what they wrote, and the whole thing would be considered a compilation. But you are right the author's estate would not be the owner of any copyright in the guest book. However if the book formed part of the chattels of the author's estate the trustees could, if they wish, exercise control over access to the book even if it is physically located at the Institution or the US University.

I suspect that you are right that none of the guests would actually object to the contents of the book being published.