File:Tracy Hepburn Desk Set.jpg

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Tracy_Hepburn_Desk_Set.jpg ‎(265 × 335 pixels, file size: 24 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Summary

Public domain explanation

  • With regards to publicity images, Eve Light Honathaner writes in The Complete Film Production Handbook, (Focal Press, 2001 p. 211.):
"Publicity photos (star headshots) have traditionally not been copyrighted. Since they are disseminated to the public, they are generally considered public domain, and therefore clearance by the studio that produced them is not necessary."
  • Gerald Mast, in Film Study and the Copyright Law (1989) p. 87, has written:
"According to the old copyright act, such production stills were not automatically copyrighted as part of the film and required separate copyrights as photographic stills ... Most studios have never bothered to copyright these stills because they were happy to see them pass into the public domain, to be used by as many people in as many publications as possible."

Licensing

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File history

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Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current08:10, 8 January 2017Thumbnail for version as of 08:10, 8 January 2017265 × 335 (24 KB)127.0.0.1 (talk)<ul> <li>Publicity image for the 1957 film <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desk_Set_(film)" class="extiw" title="en:Desk Set (film)">Desk Set</a></i>, featuring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Tracy" class="extiw" title="en:Spencer Tracy">Spencer Tracy</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katharine_Hepburn" class="extiw" title="en:Katharine Hepburn">Katharine Hepburn</a>. </li> <li>Such images were taken by a studio photographer, and then disseminated to the media and the public to promote the film (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Film_still" class="extiw" title="en:Film still">Film still</a>).</li> <li>This is definitely an image taken to promote the film, as they are dressed as the characters (see, for instance, <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetsundaymornings/3739166204/">this</a> screenshot from the film, where they are wearing the same clothes.) Another image from the same photoshoot can be seen <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh168/AllAboutKate/photos/57/ds/57-deskset-p16.jpg">here</a>. Tracy and Hepburn did not pose for images together unless it was to promote a film.</li> </ul> <h3><span class="mw-headline" id="Public_domain_explanation">Public domain explanation</span></h3> <ul><li>With regards to publicity images, Eve Light Honathaner writes in <i>The Complete Film Production Handbook</i>, (Focal Press, 2001 p. 211.):</li></ul> <dl><dd>"Publicity photos (star headshots) have traditionally not been copyrighted. Since they are disseminated to the public, they are generally considered public domain, and therefore clearance by the studio that produced them is not necessary."</dd></dl> <ul><li>Gerald Mast, in <i>Film Study and the Copyright Law</i> (1989) p. 87, has written: </li></ul> <dl><dd>"According to the old copyright act, such production stills were not automatically copyrighted as part of the film and required separate copyrights as photographic stills ... Most studios have never bothered to copyright these stills because they were happy to see them pass into the public domain, to be used by as many people in as many publications as possible." </dd></dl> <ul><li>If the image was copyrighted, the copyright would have had be be renewed in 1985 (28 years after publiciation, as stated by the 1909 Copyright Act, which was law until 1978). A search for the term "Desk Set" with <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?DB=local&PAGE=First">The United States Copyright Office</a> reveals that <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cocatalog.loc.gov/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=9&ti=1,9&Search_Arg=desk%20set&Search_Code=TALL&CNT=25&PID=deAz-hauLAeFx9GSAJ9v4Fxe5MkZ&SEQ=20120117144913&SID=1">the movie has its copyright renewed</a> in this year, but there is no indication that any publicty photographs did. Searching for "Katharine Hepburn" and "Spencer Tracy" also find no evidence that a photograph taken of them in 1957 had its copyright renewed.</li></ul>
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