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Copyright of old Photographs

by wargamesblog
8 replies
Hi,
new member so sorry if I have posted this in the wrong question.


I run a small wargames blog and custom painting service for wargaming miniatures and I would like to expand my blog content to include history and hobby articles.


I would like to add some World War 2 photographs to the articles but I am unsure on the copyright status of these old pictures. Can anyone give me some advice on if it is o.k. to use these pictures? Are these public domain?


Also I might be looking to do some t-shirts as well. Does this change if I am using the images for commercial purposes?


Any help would be appreciated?


Thanks


Gary
#copyright #photographs
  • Profile picture of the author Platt
    I don't think it matters if you use pictures as long as u mention where you got them. And what do you mean with 'do some t-shirts'?
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    • Profile picture of the author Tina Golden
      Originally Posted by Platt View Post

      I don't think it matters if you use pictures as long as u mention where you got them. And what do you mean with 'do some t-shirts'?
      Citing your source does NOT absolve you from copyright infringement. You should probably do some research on the subject before giving advice, as it can have very serious consequences.

      wargamesblog - These would not be automatically in the public domain so you would have to check each source to see what the license is for each photo. For military images, I'd recommend finding US government resources (if you are in the US) because most images would be public domain that way. You'd still have to confirm as not everything on a government website is public domain but the majority are.

      If it is public domain, you can use the images commercially. Otherwise, you will have to check the license of each image you want to use on a t-shirt. If you can't find any information about a photo, assume that you can't use it.
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    • Profile picture of the author tpw
      Originally Posted by Platt View Post

      I don't think it matters if you use pictures as long as u mention where you got them. And what do you mean with 'do some t-shirts'?

      For the record, this Platt is not Bill Platt.

      I just wanted people viewing this thread to make that distinction.
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      Bill Platt, Oklahoma USA, PlattPublishing.com
      Publish Coloring Books for Profit (WSOTD 7-30-2015)
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  • Profile picture of the author livinglarge
    Many public domain sites have the terms somewhere on their site.

    Public domain:
    • All works published in the US before 1923
    • All works published with a copyright notice from 1923 through 1963 without copyright renewal
    • All works published without a copyright notice from 1923 through 1977
    • All works published without a copyright notice from 1978 through March 1, 1989 and without subsequent registration within 5 years.


    This is a link to WWI pics and they have a usage page, that says among other things that the pictures can be used with attribution. It also provides contact info if you are in doubt. Perhaps the site where you got your WWII images has something similar?

    Photos of The Great War

    Without knowing for sure if you can use the photos that you have, I would suggest not to use them.
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  • Profile picture of the author halrits
    Have you seen Flickr's "Internet Archive Book"? All images in the archive are pre-1922 and believed to be copyright free. Searching for "World War" returns 33,000+ results with "No known copyright restrictions".

    https://www.flickr.com/photos/intern...ivebookimages/

    bbc.com says "Visitors to the site are free to copy and make use of the pictures without charge" and "The pictures range from 1500 to 1922, when copyright restrictions kick in." (Millions of historical images posted to Flickr - BBC News)
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