Convoluted copyright issue - advice?

Long explanation - stay with me.

My Wife's aunt (her father's sister) was an accomplished photographer. Made a reasonable living at the profession most all of her life. Film photography. She passed and my wife's father was the executor of her estate.

My wife's father passed last year. My wife is his executor. Her mother is still living.

Okay, here we go. In the property of my wife's father were the belongings of his sister. Among those belongings were quite a few of her "files". Among those are some photographs - prints AND negatives from her earliest days as a photographer. Some of these shots are photographs of a very young and quite at ease Andy Warhol. Most of the shots were taken at a New York apartment and clearly are framed to be "portraits" of Andy Warhol. Some are shots taken in an apartment at a party which Andy Warhol was a guest. The shots are pretty good but some are hard to judge as there are no prints - only negatives.

The questions are:

1. Does the copyright of these "photographs" pass from the wife's aunt - to her father and ultimately to her through executorship of estate?

2. What would be the best course of action for the guarding of these photographs? What I mean is - do PRINTS need to be made in order to send in for registration? (Assuming registration of the photographs would ultimately be the way to go. If PRINTS are to be made of these - WHOM would or could be trusted to make those?

3. Given that there are both - some prints and more negatives. HOW is the best way to get these registered? Sending in a CD with "COPIES" to the office is done how (with the negatives I mean)?

4. I am asking these questions as to the best METHOD of handling these. I have already advised the wife and her sisters NOT to handle the negatives as their handling of them might damage them in some way as I see quite a bit of value to them being unpublished and quite rare photographs of a pretty famous person that shied away from having his photograph taken.

It must be stated that I do NOT have any control of these. I can only offer ADVICE as to the handling of these things and I am not sure MY advice would be held by the wife's sisters in any special regard - but I would like to offer some SOUND advice with reasonable methods to get the job done about registering the photographs at the very least.

Hillbille

Subscribing...

Fascinating Story! Good Luck!

Copyright does pass to the heirs and last time I looked was in effect for 75 years after the photographer's death. Probably the best way to register them would be to scan the negatives or prints put them on a CD and send them in to the copyright office. Just google copyright and you'll get the law and instructions for submission.

The problem may be if commercial use is anticipated, absent a release from Warhol, one would need to be obtained from his heirs.

Sale of the prints as art would probably not be considered commercial use. Sale of posters for instance would be commercial use and a release would be needed

Yeah - you should hear the "sisters" talk about these things - the word "millions" keeps getting used! LOL!! I have told them that although that certainly might be a possibility - it would be much better to be a lot more conservative.

Also I probably should ask what would be the best way to "store" these things. They are currently in the negative holders from her aunt's files and the prints are in a manilla envelope in a safe deposit box at a bank. Might there be something more or better that they could be stored IN?

Hillbille

breal101 wrote in post #13803483
Copyright does pass to the heirs and last time I looked was in effect for 75 years after the photographer's death. Probably the best way to register them would be to scan the negatives or prints put them on a CD and send them in to the copyright office. Just google copyright and you'll get the law and instructions for submission.

The problem may be if commercial use is anticipated, absent a release from Warhol, one would need to be obtained from his heirs.

Sale of the prints as art would probably not be considered commercial use. Sale of posters for instance would be commercial use and a release would be needed

Ironic since it was Warhol who fought the "system" with the use of the Campbell Soup logo as "fine art."

Hillbille wrote in post #13803517
Yeah - you should hear the "sisters" talk about these things - the word "millions" keeps getting used! LOL!! I have told them that although that certainly might be a possibility - it would be much better to be a lot more conservative.

Also I probably should ask what would be the best way to "store" these things. They are currently in the negative holders from her aunt's files and the prints are in a manilla envelope in a safe deposit box at a bank. Might there be something more or better that they could be stored IN?

Hillbille

Check B&H, I'm reasonably sure they sell archival sleeves for negatives, they may also have archival file boxes but that's just a guess. Handle them with cotton or nylon gloves, they also may still be sold by B&H.

It would probably be a good idea to consult an Intellectual Property lawyer, the aunt's may need proper advice as to how to proceed.

I can't comment on the copyright in general, but I can comment on your bullet point
1. Does the copyright of these "photographs" pass from the wife's aunt - to her father and ultimately to her through executorship of estate?

No. Being an executor has nothing to do with inheritance of anything. The executor handles the estate. Now, many times the executor is ALSO a beneficiary, but that has nothing to do with their role as executor.

Good luck, cool topic.

FlyingPhotog wrote in post #13803564
Ironic since it was Warhol who fought the "system" with the use of the Campbell Soup logo as "fine art."

So true, and complicating matters even more is that the OP lives in California. Seems they have special laws regarding usage of images of celebrities. Something I seem to remember from a case involving "Betty Jean".

breal101 wrote in post #13803590
It would probably be a good idea to consult an Intellectual Property lawyer, the aunt's may need proper advice as to how to proceed.

Definitely consult a lawyer who's qualified in copyright and IP law in your location.

Amazing story ... hope you'll keep us abreast of how it pans out!

Lawyer, lawyer, lawyer...... and not even that is guaranteed to keep you out of trouble

Cool story though. I don't know about millions, but some money is definitely in order.

This is Carolyn Wright. I was a client. She's good.
http://www.photoattorn​ey.com/

Here in the USA, the term is "Intellectual Property Lawyer", not "Copyright Lawyer".

Carolyn Wright
Blog: http://www.photoattorn​ey.com/

The "aunt" that was the photographer bequeathed all of her possessions to her brother (the wife's father) so that should not be an issue as ALL of his survivors (the sisters including my wife) will agree to and equally share in the disposition of the things.

What makes these particular photographs interesting are the "portrait" shots of a VERY young Andy Warhol. Pre everything. In a white dress shirt - posing for the portrait. The other ones are pretty relaxed shots but still of a very young (early 20's I'd say) Warhol.

Guarding the negatives with proper storage techniques is probably the best at this point. Getting the negatives and prints scanned for inclusion in a package to get registered is also at the top of the list. Until these two things get done there would really be no need for a lawyer - yet.

The "aunt" that took the photographs did so in New York when she was fresh into being on her own and had just moved to NY to get herself "established" as a working photographer. She hung out with "the" crowd which included several up and coming actors and of course Andy Warhol. She - later in life - lived in Mexico City and that is where her "studio" was. She carried only a modest amount of "valuable" files with her and these photo's were included in those files. She came up to California to visit all her brothers and sisters before she passed. Everything was taken care of during that time as far as her bequeathal.

Hillbille

Cool story. Will watch for the news stories in the coming months announcing "newly discovered Warhol pics".

^^ Absolutely. Very cool.

Having been burned in the past, I disagree with your assessment that you don't need a lawyer now.

A few hundred dollars for a one hour phone consult could save you a huge amount of time and problems later.