[SIGCIS-Members] Copyright advice sought

[Matthew Allen]

Hi Bernard,

Publishing these images in an academic context would certainly fall under
fair use (it may or may not be copyrighted, but you may (and in this case
certainly do) still have the right of fair use). Which means: there's
almost no chance you'd get into legal trouble (and if it went to court,
you'd win), but you still may need to convince your editor. In which case,
you may be able to point them to advice like this:
http://www.collegeart.org/pdf/fair-use/best-practices-fair-use-visual-arts.pdf
. I've had some luck convincing editors in the art history realm that most
of the culture of "permissions" is complete waste of time. (The right of
fair use means you don't have to ask for permission!)

Best,
Matthew

On Thu, Jul 12, 2018 at 3:59 PM Ceruzzi, Paul <CeruzziP at si.edu> wrote:

> It may be worth noting that the RAND Corporation was/is a so-called
> “FFRDC” – federally-funded research and development center. After World War
> II a number of them were set up, mainly (as I understand it) to allow its
> employees to receive higher salaries than allowed by the civil service
> system. But they were paid with government funds (i.e. taxes). The same
> holds true for the university lab with an air force contract. The line
> between an FFRDC and a traditional government research lab (e.g. the
> National Bureau of Standards/NIST) can be very fuzzy. As one colleague of
> mine remarked, “How do you know if the person works for an FFRDC or a
> government lab? Visit their house, and if they have Picasso paintings on
> the wall, they work for an FFRDC.”
>
>
>
> So to answer your question, go ahead & use the images. As for the
> advertisements, you do need to show that you made a good-faith effort. I
> have done this, and in some cases it turned out to be fun, believe it or
> not, to track down the evolution of technical trade journals like
> Electronics or Datamation.
>
>
>
> Paul Ceruzzi
>
> ceruzzip at si.edu
>
> 202-633-2414
>
>
>
> *From:* Members <members-bounces at lists.sigcis.org> *On Behalf Of *Bernard
> Geoghegan
> *Sent:* Thursday, July 12, 2018 2:21 PM
> *To:* members at SIGCIS.org
> *Subject:* [SIGCIS-Members] Copyright advice sought
>
>
>
> Dear Members,
>
>
>
> I’m looking for some copyright tips. I’d be grateful for feedback. I’m
> trying to figure out if I need copyright holder permission to reproduce in
> an academic publication images from the following items that appeared in
> print between 1923 and 1963, i.e. a period when things normally require
> explicit copyright renewal to stay out of the public domain. I can’t figure
> out if some of these materials count as government documents. Unless noted,
> none of these materials come from an archive or otherwise privileged source.
>
>
>
> 1.    Figures from IBM manuals for SAGE from 1958. There’s no evidence
> the manual was copyrighted, nor that the copyright was renewed, but there
> is a statement in the manuals that reads “This document contains
> information of a proprietary nature. Any use or reproduction of this
> document for other than government purposes is subject to the prior consent
> of International Business Machines Corporation.”
>
> 2.    A figure from a 1950s RAND memo prepared for the US Air Force—no
> evidence that it was copyrighted, nor that the copyright was renewed. There
> is a statement on the cover that permission must be sought from RAND to
> quote or reproduce its contents.
>
> 3.    Figures from a 1947 report produced by a university-based
> laboratory for the US Air Force, no evidence that it was copyrighted, nor
> that copyright was renewed. I don’t think it was publicly circulated. I got
> my copy from a US government archive.
>
> 4.    Pre-1964 magazine advertisements, I have no information about their
> copyright status.
>
>
>
> Thanks for your advice, colleagues.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
> Bernard
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
> Bernard Dionysius Geoghegan
>
> Senior Lecturer in the History and Theory of Digital Media
>
> www.bernardg.com
>
>
>
> Department of Digital Humanities
>
> King's College London
>
> The Strand Building
>
> Room S3.08
>
> WC2R 2LS
>
>
>
> Office: +44 (0)20 7848 4750
>
> Cell:  +44 (0)75 7713 9098
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