reproducing studio images....

My dad, aunt and sister all lost their homes in Katrina... and sadly, 90% of our family's photos... we were able to recover about 30-40 pictures from the sites... and my great uncle also sent me some old family photos to copy and return. I have a a bit myself as well.

My dad and aunt really wanted to get copies of all the pictures, and so I was contemplating making copies or possibly designing a book through my publisher or something.

Many, but not all, of the images were studio work. Ranging from the late 1800's all the way to the last grandchild in 2004. I've done a little research, but can't find exactly what I'm looking for.

The governments copyright website mentions that anything after 1978 is copyrighted. Does that mean I can freely copy anything before that? But then, I also read that this may be retroactive to photos before 1978 as well? I really can't find the answer.

And for all the photos taken afterwards... us kids and grandkids.... can we not copy those? The are so many different studios we'd have to contact - I'm a it overwhelmed.

I really wanted to make nice coffee table style albums for them for Christmas... but I need to make sure I'm doing it the right way... I assume any binder or album company will check that I'm not using copyrighted material?

Thanks in advabce for your input.

ltilley, sorry to hear about the loss of so many of your family's photos . I'm not a legal expert, but generally, copyright infringment cases deal with illegal commercial use of someone else's images.

I seriously doubt that you are taking any legal risks simply by making copies of old photos for your personal use, especially considering they are of your family.

thanks Steve. I'm wondering if the book binder would have issue with it... I suppose I'll consult My Publisher's website and see what they say.

CVS, Walmart and Rtiz wouldn't allow me to duplicate them. I have a nice photo scanner.. but my printer isn't photo quality... so the problem is finding someone to print them... maybe it's time to invest in a nice photo printer.

Sounds like My Pulsiher will let me use them as long as i don't "distribute" them or modify them at all.

8. Copyrighted Software and Material
All software, materials, information and content offered by MyPublisher are protected by copyright and other applicable laws. You may not distribute or copy such material without the written permission of the copyright owner. You may use these materials so long as you do not change the materials or remove any copyright or other proprietary rights notices included in the materials.

Yeah, I figured you wouldn't have problems under the circumstances.

The thing that's most important now is to get good images files of your old photos. Think of these new "originals" as digital negatives and treat them accordingly. One of the great benefits of the digital age is the ease of copying these files, with no loss in quality.

If I were you, I would be sure to give each of your relatives a disc with the image files on it. For the most part, the image discs may be much easier to protect and retrieve than the prints themselves in the event of (heaven forbid) future emergencies.

Once you have good digital image files, prints are simply the end product to view, and can be easily replaced. And IMO it's no big deal to have lesser quality prints now and then make high quality ones when you can so long as you protect the original files...

I agreed that your risk about being sued by any studio who owns the copyrights on your family photos is close to zero percent and even can say is 0%.
You reproduce studio images at home by yourself, probably only God knows your are violating copyright laws.

Almost all studios will not sue you for so small money because they end to pay more in legal processing (I believe no attorneys will take such case too), plus you do have understandable reason.

Unless you are a billionaire, otherwise, copyright laws will not bother you at bit under your circumstance.