Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Hi,

For a few years prior to World War Two my father traveled Europe and the Far East writing for a now defunct Newspaper. He wrote nearly 100 articles that are very adventurous and exciting to read. I have about half of these in first draft form and the rest on microfilm as news articles.

I was considering getting something published with this material. So, the question is, can I? Who has the rights to the material?

Thanks, Joe


Asked on 8/13/12, 7:57 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith E. Cooper Keith E. Cooper, Esq.

Copyright can, unfortunately, be a little tricky because of changes in the law over the years. It is possible that the articles have fallen into the public domain, but it is also possible that the rights were renewed and still effective.

Customarily, the copyrights to newspaper articles would belong to the publication, not the author. Exceptions might include excerpts from other works.

For articles that were never published, the copyrights belong to the creator of the work, and may continue to be covered after the author's death (again, depending upon which law applies).

Your first step would be to do a copyright search and see when (and if) the articles were registered. During that time period, registration was required for protection (it no longer is under current law). That would be a starting point.

If you need help with this, you should contact an attorney familiar with copyright law or you might try a copyright clearance house which should be able to give you a rundown of the registrations.

Feel free to e-mail me through my website if you would like my help.

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Answered on 8/14/12, 1:07 pm


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