Legal Question in Wills and Trusts in Massachusetts
private letters sold, copyright issue?
I purchased off of Ebay two years ago,( from WI) a lot of 150 personal love letters written by a woman in 1945 from Quincy Massachusetts. Through my research I have discovered both the letter writer and the man she had been writing ( now her husband) are both alive. (They are both in an assisted living center in MA) It was my intent to publish these leters in their entirety in a book. I will annotate the letters with historical and cultural references.
Are the letters my property?
Can I publsh these letters without the author's or receiver's expressed agreement?
What if I do now know who sold them to me?
Thank you for any advice, I have already contacted the elderly couple to tell them I had purchased their letters.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: private letters sold, copyright issue?
There are two issues involved: the right to privacy, and the ownership of the letters themselves. If the letters were sold by someone who had no legal right to them (by purchase or gift), you also have no ownership interest, as you are in possession of stolen property. You should require what is called "provenance", that is, evidence that the seller had the legal right of ownership.
Even if you are the legal owner of the letters, publishing them without permission would expose you to a legal claim of invasion of privacy.
If they, or one of them, is not mentally competent, you will have even more potential problems, including the statutory violation of elder and/or handicapped rights.
If you get permission, and they are competent to grant it, you should make sure it is in written form and protects you (and them) adequately. You should not rely on a form off the internet.
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