Legal: Old defunct newspaper shot at DVinfo.net

Art Willig · December 22nd, 2010, 06:49 PM

I've an old newspaper shot of myself from a small community newspaper that's been out of biz for 15 years. I was wondering if I can use this in my music video without any legal repercussions.
What do you think?

Jim Andrada · December 23rd, 2010, 02:18 AM

Do you want to use just the picture or more of the page on which the picture sits?

If the former, then I guess it would depend on who shot the photo or otherwise has the copyright to the photo.

If the latter, then I guess it would depend on how the newspaper's assets were disposed of - ie did some other outfit buy the company or did it just disappear? Although there could be multiple entities each owning the copyright to something that appeared on the page - for example ad copy that might appear there would have almost certainly have been copyrighted by the entity that placed the ad and not by the newspaper.

These are just top of my head guesses, of course. I really don't know, just thinking out loud.

Interesting question.

Doug Bailey · December 28th, 2010, 06:57 AM

Art,
Take a new shot of yourself and then you will never have to worry about it. If you want the shot to look like the earlier version, that's pretty easy in Photoshop.
Regards,
Doug.

December 22nd, 2010, 06:49 PM	#1
Art Willig Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Colorado Posts: 104	Legal: Old defunct newspaper shot I've an old newspaper shot of myself from a small community newspaper that's been out of biz for 15 years. I was wondering if I can use this in my music video without any legal repercussions. What do you think? __________________ "Shoot first and ask questions later"

December 23rd, 2010, 02:18 AM	#2
Jim Andrada Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Tucson AZ Posts: 2,211	Do you want to use just the picture or more of the page on which the picture sits? If the former, then I guess it would depend on who shot the photo or otherwise has the copyright to the photo. If the latter, then I guess it would depend on how the newspaper's assets were disposed of - ie did some other outfit buy the company or did it just disappear? Although there could be multiple entities each owning the copyright to something that appeared on the page - for example ad copy that might appear there would have almost certainly have been copyrighted by the entity that placed the ad and not by the newspaper. These are just top of my head guesses, of course. I really don't know, just thinking out loud. Interesting question.

December 28th, 2010, 06:57 AM	#3
Doug Bailey Regular Crew Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Jupiter, FL Posts: 164	Art, Take a new shot of yourself and then you will never have to worry about it. If you want the shot to look like the earlier version, that's pretty easy in Photoshop. Regards, Doug.