Rick Denney wrote:ThomasDodd wrote:My father did portrait photos.He died 8 years ago, all his business materials were destroyed (negatives in particular). But the pictures were printed on paper with a copyright notice, so I cannot get picture he took of me duplicated.
You inherited those copyrights, presumably, and should be able to demonstrate ownership therefore.
No, my mother did. And she disposed of those negatives, remaining equipment and such before she moved to TX.
The real trick is, most place see the paper and won't do the work. When it's a pictuire of me from 20 years ago, the often don't belive it me, and the sure don't believe my father took them. There is no name on the photos, just the pro-grade paper warnings.
Still, What abnout all the other people he made pictures for? Shouldn't the be able to get copies now? The have no way of contact me or my mother, since few people in the area know where we are. They kmign know the business name, but finding us would be next to impossible.
I picked this as an example, since I have direct envolvement. But the same hold for 20-30 year old recordings, that are out of print, or old arrangements that no one has to sell. There are lot's of old recording I'd buy if I could, but thhey are quite rare finds. The copyright holder is no longer interested in making money on those right, so they should become public domain.
The point of copyright was to encourage publishing the work, so that it would be available to the public. Giving the hoilder the ability to make some money on their work, without other ripping them off with clones. That is far from what it is used for today.
And why isn't a portrait a work for hire, or shared copyright between the artist and the subject? If I pay you to take/paint my picture, that's a work for hire. As the subject, I'm as important to the work as the you are. Without me there would be not picture to argue over.