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

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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