[cc-community] Licensing postcards, etc.

Paul Dixon paul at elphin.com
Sun Oct 1 11:02:28 EDT 2006


James E. LaBarre wrote:
> I have a question regarding licenses on "historical" items (manuals, 
> postcards, etc.).
>
> First example:  I would like to put up a website of postcards & 
> brochures for an old botanical garden that closed in the early 1970's. 
> However, once I have gone through the trouble of scanning & posting 
> them, I'd like to "license" them so that no-one could turn around and 
> use them commercially, etc.  The problem is, I don't know if they're 
> still under an existing copyright.
>   
Depending on where you are in the world, the material may or may not 
still be in copyright. If it *is*, you can't licence it to others, as 
you don't own it. If it *isn't* in copyright, then it's public domain - 
put it out there and if someone wants to use it commercially, let them 
(the opportunity cost to you is zero, after all).



> Second example:  I have user manuals for an old Genius hand-scanner, and 
> have seen references to the manuals no longer being available.  I looked 
> through the copies of the manuals I have, and found there are *no* 
> copyrights listed in any of them (a serious oversight on the part of the 
> manufacturer to be sure).
No notice is required to secure a copyright, it exists from the moment 
of creation of a work.

As you do not hold the copyright for this manual, you cannot licence it, 
since you do not speak for the copyright holder.




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