Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Washington

I own thousands of pre-1900 vintage photographs that I purchased on sites like eBay, antique stores, etc. I make high quality scans of these photos and sell access to my website and the scans. Am I the copyright owner of these scans? Can I legally prevent somebody from republishing them, or are they public domain, even though I own the original and created the scan?


Asked on 10/22/09, 3:53 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Clifford Hyra Hyra IP, PLC

The copyrights on pre-1900 creative works such as photographs have expired and so the works are now in the public domain. That means that anyone is free to make and distribute copies, derivative works, etc. The owner of the original, physical work is not the owner of any copyrights with respect to the work and cannot prevent another person from making copies.

A scan would not be considered a creative work entitled to copyright protection. There would typically be no copyrights in a scan itself, which is essentially a copy of another work.

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Answered on 11/04/09, 9:59 am


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