Digital Light & Color

I resently scanned, retouched, and restored images from a deceased family member's extensive photo album set and produced a CD-ROM for other family members to obtain prints commercially rather then using my rather meager home printing resources...

One commercial printing source declined to print some of the images as they were in their minds, studio or school year book type images... rather than "snapshots"... thus they might infringe on copyrights... and in truth, some of the original alblum photos were.... having been in the family and dating from the early 1920's to near present...

(1) Has anyone else experienced this situation and how was it resolved? ...as most of the original producers of the scanned prints are themselves deceased or their businesses no longer in existence...

(2) What is the legal responsibilities of the Retoucher/Restorer in this situation for commercial printing both for one's own family's images as well as doing this type of service for non-family members?

I just recently investigated the whole copyright subject. Everything hinges around the copyright owner who has the exclusive right to make copies. The owner of a copy of an image (not the copyright owner but a legitimate owner of a copy - say a print) can make one copy for personal use as long as the copy is in a different format to the original (printed and digital formats being different formats). There is information about third parties making copies for the copy owner but I don't recall the detail but if I remember correctly, the person making the copy has some legal obligation to ensure he/she is not infringing copyright and may ask you to sign a form indemnifying them from any legal responsibility.

Now, this is the law in Australia but I believe this is in line with international accepted standard. I would suggest you investigate the law in your country.

I can email a PDF of the Australian law if you require.

Thank you Keith for the email/pdf's...

It is appreciated.