Gggrrrrrr!! Private Tree on Ancestry photos copied

[unknownmale]

I have to say I have mixed feelings about this topic, I searched for long and weary for information on  a certain family member. On finding a connection i was given a frosty welcome and not much information. I am sure there was much more to be gleaned. However, that`s the way of it. I suppose there are people who find a tenuous link and grab all the info they can just to add names to their tree, which seems pointless. I would and have, shared willingly, any information pictures etc. with Difficult one. Unknownmale. Having said that this site Rootschat has been a saviour on many occasions.

[Erin2012]

I found a family member and gladly shared a picture of our common ggg grandparents.... Only to find it on findagave with a not stating that person as the one who "donated" the pic.... Of course they did but I was surprised they never told me!!!

[Erin2012]

And never heard from them since of course...

[snowyw]

I haven't heard back from Ancestry.  The most annoying thing that will not go in my favour is that the photos are credited to the person I shared them with, not me.  Probably because I don't actually keep my tree on Ancestry.  If I haven't heard from them by the weekend, I may have to post again on the facebook page....

[JMStrachan]

This is a minefield area, which is why my copies of old family photos are not on my Ancestry tree, but are on my blog.

However, I used to work in advertising and had to know the copyright law regarding photographs. Copyright in a photo is held by the photographer and NOT by anyone who happens to have a print of the photograph. The only exceptions are if the photographer is an employee, in which case their employer holds the copyright, or if there is a written agreement transferring the copyright.

If you are in a photograph you do not own the copyright, and can only have a say in how it is distributed if you have signed a model release form.

So, if you have old family photos you do not own the copyright and legally you have no say whatsoever in how that photo is distributed. If you choose to send a digital copy to someone else or post it online, you have no control over how it is subsequently distributed.

Oh, and copyright usually ends 50 years after the death of the copyright holder anyway.

I don't suppose this is what many people posting on this thread want to hear, but it is the law.

[groom]

That is interesting and helpful, JM Strachan.

So as I understand it, I own the copyright of any photo that I have taken. What happens re copyright of the photos my father, who died 15 years ago, took? Does that pass to me as his heir? I also have family photos taken by my grandfather, who died 40 years ago - who owns that copyright, does that also pass to his heirs and their heirs?

[JMStrachan]

Sorry, it's 70 years after the death of the copyright holder, not 50 years.

As for passing onto heirs: I don't know but have just looked it up and it's not very clear. Ideally copyright needs to be mentioned in a will, but realistically that only happens if the work in question is earning money. If your father named you in his will as the beneficiary who received the residue of his estate or all personal possession/contents of house, then yes you'd inherit copyright. Otherwise possibly not.

[snowyw]

One of my photos is of my grandmother and her mother taken in 1921 by her father.  He died in 1935.  So no copyright. 
The others were taken in 1934 by my grandfather who died in 1972.

So where does that leave me with the first one?

[smudwhisk]

Isn't there the added complication regarding scans of photographs by someone other than the original photographer?  I read somewhere, but can't remember where, something suggesting that if the photograph was out of copyright but you had scanned it in and manipulated it (such as where they've faded), it's deemed to be a new photograph with new copyright period?

It's a bit of a minefield unfortunately, as most forms of intellectual property are.