Who Owns My Scanned Stamp Images?

After reading this here on SCF I thought it might be interesting to have a discussion about who really has the copyright to an image.

Specifically I'm asking about stamps,covers or any philatelic material.


I have used Photoshop for about 4 years to host my stamp images and have no problem if someone uses my scans.

Question: who owns the copyright for an imageof a stamp?

Well wouldn't the stamp issuing entity be the copyright holder?

But you could say that yes true but the image of the particular
image of that stamp I own.

What about cancelled stamps with a distinct postmark?
An image of that would certainly belong to me.
Really?

There is a lively discussion on another forum (name of which we don't usually mention here) about this very thing.

It appears that someone was selling prints with images of stamps on ebay and one of the prints portrayed a rare stamp which belongs to the site owner, who claims he has the copyright to that scanned image.

How do forum members feel about this?

Or do you really care.

As far as the above portion of your question, a lot depends on the stamp issuing country and their specific laws.

Here in the US, stamps issued before 1978 are in public domain:




http://www.publicdomainsherpa.com/u...t-works.html

Stamps issued after 1978 are copyright by the US Postal Service and have specific parameters for reproduction.

Here's the specific law:

http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/p...5_SE_504.pdf

And the US Postal Service's view of "fair use" of said images:

http://about.usps.com/doing-busines...ceptions.htm

Just remember the faux paux the USPS had with the issuance of the Korean War Memorial Stamp. They ended up paying a considerable sum to the copyright owner, even though they argue that the memorial was public domain. The photograph however has certain intrinsic qualities associated such as lighting, angle, color, et al which contributed to the photo's character, obtained by the photographer. (They now face similar issue with the Statue of Liberty issue photo of the NY NY Statue). The USPS has copyright on ALL products issued by it, (or they obtain a license)this includes postage stamps. They will not bother one if they copy or use the photos as long as there is no commercial gain. (I suspect posting a picture for secondary sale such as on ebay does not count but???) But, if you were say print an image on a coffee mug, t-shirt and sell that without a license from USPS you would be called for copyright infringement.

Just noting that it's the Las Vegas replica of the Statue of Liberty that the copyright issue is about. The (original) New York Statue of Liberty has no copyright restrictions.

If you want to protect your image copyright on Photobucket they require you to submit a detailed claim of ownership and infringement. See attached link. They don't make it easy.

http://photobucket.com/copyright

Here's where it all started.........

http://www.plagiarismtoday.com/2008...photobucket/

Perhaps there has been some improvement over the original concerns, but many photographers are still wary.

As regards scans of stamps and copyright, there usually is provision in copyright law for educational use, illustration of educational writing and dissemination of scholarly information. A fair use sort of thing.

Terry

In my opinion the only true owner of a stamp image is the
stamp issuing entity whether it's USPS, Royal Mail, Canada Post
or whoever.
They paid the designer and the engraver(if engraved) and paid to
have them printed.
That's why Canadian stamps have the © symbol somewhere
in the stamp design for the last 40 years or so.

I really have no problem if someone uses scans of my stamps.
After all I only scanned it, I didn't create it in any way.

This raises the question of when I post an image on this forum, from an image that I scanned and saved on my PC, who owns it? It may be now public domain, but who owns that copyright? I don't really care but it's a good topic for discussion.

Art

I don't know much about this, so I find it interesting. But if an image is public domain, does it have a copyright? Isn't it up for grabs by anyone unless the image is copyrighted before it is posted from the computer?


-IBFS

A really good topic lithograving. The issuing entity did pay for the designer, engraver and the printing of the stamp but I paid the issuing entity for the stamp so do I own the stamp now along with the images. Kind of reminds me of purchasing land. You own the land but do you own the mineral rights as well or does the previous owner still own them.

Newby Stamper, buying a stamp or any other form of artwork, photograph, design, writing or intellectually created work does not give you ownership of the copyright. That remains with the original creator or owner unless they assign copyright to you. Apart from generally permitted fair use that is.

IBFS, copyright of an artwork does not have to be applied for, it is inherent in the work created by the artist, and unless he or she assigns copyright to another it remains with the artist even if the work iis sold.

Terry

I tried to dig into this question few years back, and found it to be a real worms nest. Here's some of my experiences: http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/a-sad-day.php

Also comments #266-267 on this page http://www.stampcollectingblog.com/...llection.php might interest some.

Anyways, I'd say that if you are worried that somebody will use the images without your permission, then simply watermark the scans/photos with some text. After that you don't have to worry a thing.

-k-

From the Photobucket website. Apparently, they do not own any images you have created yourself. Scroll down to content and privacy.

http://photobucket.com/terms

That is the 2013 revision. Photographers' and artists' concerns about image copyright predated that. At one time image posting on Photobucket fell off dramatically (by 50% I believe) because of concerns over copyright and their image printing service Ooop. All in the second link in my post above. As I said in an earlier post, the copyright issue may have been dealt with or improved. But personally I will not use any image service for my own images where copyright protection is unclear. I see no problem in using Photobucket for hosting and posting stamp images where there is implied fair use in play.

Terry

This is the condition that is still troublesome (from the content and privacy bit)........

"Photobucket may manipulate your content to offer the Photobucket Services (including transcoding and/or content) to allow its use throughout the Photobucket Services"

Terry

To muddy the waters, what about a stamp on cover mailed to you. Is the copyright jointly owned or would you both possibly need permission of the other to post an image of the cover?

Unless copyright is specifically assigned to you (usually in writing from the copyright holder) it matters not how you got the stamp and although you may own it you do not have any copyright to it or its design. You would not normally need permission to post an image of the stamp or cover on a site such as this as it should come under the fair use condition in copyright.

Once copyright has expired, in the UK it is 75 years after the death of the copyright owner, then the thing is in the public domain for anyone to use. Copyright is rarely extended, and I can think of only one instance in the UK where this has occurred and copyright extended 'in perpetuity'. Any guesses as to what that was?

Terry


Edit for additional info. TC.