[WikiEN-l] Image copyright question: NYT images pre 1922 that are claimed to be copyrighted

Sun Sep 11 16:34:35 UTC 2005

I frequently make use of an online database, made available to me at  
no cost by my local public library system, which contains not merely  
the full text but the actual page images of The New York Times back  
to 1857.

Obviously there's no problem with short quotes from the text, but  
what about images prior to 1923?

EVERY piece of material downloaded from this database, back to 1857,  
contains a notice like this:

"Display Ad 7--No Title. New York Times (1857-Current file); Aug 30,  
1888; [database name] Historical Newspapers The New York Times (1851  
- 2001) pg. 8. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner.  
Further reproduction prohibited without permission."

I'd syllogize that a) everything published before 1923 is in the  
public domain, and b) everything that appears in The New York Times  
has been publisheded, ergo c) this is in the public domain, and that  
the notice is just boilerplate, presumably put on everything because  
it is easier and less risky to put it on everything than to attempt  
to determine which things are under copyright (after all, a few more  
Sonny Bono laws and this may BE copyrighted again), and that I can  
safely ignore it, that I use the image freely, and that no permission  
is required.

Comments?

--
Daniel P. B. Smith, dpbsmith at verizon.net
"Elinor Goulding Smith's Great Big Messy Book" is now back in print!
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