Copyright

COPYRIGHTS:

There are images in your archive that I may not be able to have scanned. If the image was taken by a professional studio or photographer (Sears, Olan Mills, school photos, Wal-Mart etc.) you will need to obtain in written form either via a letter or email from the copyright holder (the photographer or studio) that states they give permission for you or an agent working on your behalf to digitally scan/reproduce an image in which they hold the copyright for the use in your digital family archive. I would also recommend you ask the photographer or studio to also state they give permission for you to reproduce this digital image only in the context of family books, calendars, cards etc. at the same time so you have options and can provide copies of this letter later if needed for personal reproduction. Although you paid for the image the photographer/ studio makes their living from the reproductions as well as the original sitting fee so you/I legally have to respect their copyright.

U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code)

The U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S. Code) also specifies the duration of copyright. Details are below, yet in short if the image was taken over 120 years ago the copyright may be expired. I will look at these image on a case by case basis to decide if I can scan the images for your digital archive. 

§ 302 · Duration of copyright: Works created on or after January 1, 19784

(e) Presumption as to Author’s Death.—After a period of 95 years from the year of first publication of a work, or a period of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first, any person who obtains from the Copyright Office a certified report that the records provided by subsection (d) disclose nothing to indicate that the author of the work is living, or died less than 70 years before, is entitled to the benefit of a presumption that the author has been dead for at least 70 years. Reliance in good faith upon this presumption shall be a complete defense to any action for infringement under this title.

§ 303 · Duration of copyright: Works created but not published or copyrighted before January 1, 19785(a) Copyright in a work created before January 1, 1978, but not theretofore in the public domain or copyrighted, subsists from January 1, 1978, and endures for the term provided by section 302. In no case, however, shall the term of copyright in such a work expire before December 31, 2002; and, if the work is published on or before December 31, 2002, the term of copyright shall not expire before December 31, 2047. (b) The distribution before January 1, 1978, of a phonorecord shall not for any purpose constitute a publication of the musical work embodied therein.

LIABILITY:

I, Pattie McNab or my estate, are not liable for any submitted tangible or electronic media, image, data, file, card, disc, device, film, print, slide or negative to you for any purpose, such as processing, printing, duplication, alteration, enlargement, storage, transmission, or other handling.

With an estimate I will send you a contract and COPYRIGHT INDEMNIFICATION & LIMIT OF LIABILITY AGREEMENT that will have to be signed and returned before I can start work on your project.