Copyright status

At the time of release, permissions of using this photo was granted to the third-party media for editorial uses only. However, this photo was released during the w:Copyright Act of 1909 and lacks copyright notice, as indicated in all versions of this file, which the 1909 Act required prior to the w:Copyright Act of 1976 and the w:Berne Convention Implementation Act of 1988. No efforts to correct this omission were made.

Analysis of copyright

All versions of and other unscanned portions of the back of this photo do not display the copyright notice. This photo was released under the Copyright Act of 1909, and, under the 1909 Act, the copyright notice was required and must contain three elements:

1. The symbol © (letter C in a circle); the word “Copyright”; or the abbreviation “Copr.”
2. "The year of first publication. If the work is a derivative work or a compilation incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the derivative work or compilation is sufficient. Examples of derivative works are translations or dramatizations; an example of a compilation is an anthology. The year may be omitted when a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or useful articles."

   This was not required for copyrighted photos published before 1978 under Copyright Act 1909, and omission of date may have been irrelevant to such works. However, Copyright Act of 1976 came into effect and then has applied to copyrighted materials published before 1978. Year has become required for works published before 1978. Consequently, pre-1973 copyrighted photos without a year of copyright and registration and required mandatory deposit into the Copyright Office lost copyright protection and then fell already into the public domain.

3. The name of the copyright owner, an abbreviation by which the name can be recognized, or a generally known alternative designation of owner.

   Example © 2007 Jane Doe.

See http://www.copyright.gov/history/1909act.pdf for older rules that apply to pre-1978 works without required notice. See more at Appendix A of the Copyright Act of 1976: http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92appa.pdf.

Film production expert Eve Light Honathaner in The Complete Film Production Handbook, (Focal Press, 2001 p. 211.):

The Professional Photographer's Legal Handbook By Nancy E. Wolff, Allworth Communications, 2007, p. 55:

Creative Clearance-Publicity photos"