Expert: Rene Hasekamp - 4/20/2011

Question
Hello, I am a British student currently studying Graphic Design, and one of my current projects is to create a "Retro Vintage" mash-up piece of work using computer software and any materials or processes I wish. Now, the other day I was browsing in one of the book shops in my town and I found a book called: "Film Posters of the 40s" which contains a large collection of past posters famous in the 1940's in various countries. I was thinking that I could scan these and edit these in some computer software as part of my project. But obviously there would be some legal and moral constraints to doing so. Obviously it is only for the purposes of my college project,and I will not benefit from this or make any profit. Do you think I should really contact the publisher first and ask permission? I am very naive about the legal side of this situation and I would appreciate any feedback you have.

I was thinking that I should write a letter to the editor?
Any advice is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.

Answer
In the first place: I am a patent expert, not a copyright expert. Nevertheless I can say the following:

Normally I would say that copyright on posters from the 1940's has expired by now. But I don't know if in the country where the book was published copyright can be renewed. For safety sake let us therefore assume that copyright exists.

The author of the book can claim his own copyright anyway for the selection he made from all the available posters.

So I would ask the publisher of the book permission to use the posters for your project.

By the way: You write that you want to edit the posters. If you want to change them in any other way then to enhance the picture quality, you may violate the moral right ("droit moral") of the artist. This "droit moral" never expires. So be careful about that!

I hope this answers your question.