Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Wisconsin

Copying old ads

If some of the more experienced copyright attorneys would care to chime in on this issue, I'd really appreciate it! Anyway, here is my analysis of your question, which, by the way, is fairly complex.Under the Copyright Act of 1909, those seeking copyright protection needed to follow many more formalities than today (the Copyright Act of 1976). If they did not, the work could fall into the public domain. Thus, in the case of these ads, if the copyright holders didn't follow formalities such as copyright notice, registration, etc., the work may have fallen right then into the public domain. If they complied with the formalities, they would have had 28 years of protection, followed by at least another 28 years (depending upon when the ad ran) if they followed all the renewal formalities. (I say at least 28 years because Congress kept extending the period prior to enactment of the 1976 Act.)If the copyrights on the ads are in effect, there then arises another problem. Under Mirage Editions, Inc. v. Albuquerque A.R.T. Co, 856 F2d 1341 (9th Cir. 1988), the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals found that a studio that was mounting photos of an artists work on ceramic tiles and sold them violated the book publisher's copyright in the works. The studio argued their adaptations fell within the "first sale" doctrine. The publisher said this adaptation violated their copyright right of making derivative works. The Ninth Circuit found that it was a copyright violation.There seems to be some similarities between this case and your situation. What your uncle is doing, arguably could be perceived as making a derivative work of these ads. It's a close question, in my opinion.This is just a broad stroke look at your question. Your uncle should retain a copyright attorney for a full analysis of the problem. Please email me directly if you have any further questions. Check your Yellow Pages, www.wld.com or www.weblocator.com for copyright attorneys in your area. Also, I'm sure some of the other attorneys that monitor this area will have some further insights. Good luck.