The Library of Congress >> Researchers

Prints and Photographs Reading Room

Copyright and Other Restrictions That Apply to Publication/Distribution of Images:
Assessing the Risk of Using a P&P Image

What About Copying One of P&P’s Images from a Book or Other Published Source?

If you are planning to copy and publish an image from a copyrighted, published source (e.g., a book), you should check with the publisher, since technically it owns the rights to the version appearing in the book–though few publishers realize that or seem to wish to control such copying.

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Now search — library permission “print run” —

The whole concept of limiting legitimate copyright permissions based on number of print runs is problematic, because if you “own” the copyright on “one” published version, why do you need to keep on asking permission for reprints of your own work? The authorization right shifts to you now. This would make the concept of royalties obsolete. Royalty contracts written under state laws are preempted by federal copyright laws with regard to equivalent rights. The right of a copyright holder to reproduce, distribute, and authorize, are rights equivalent to rights under copyright law, and any publishing agreement is a “restrictive covenant” which is preempted by copyright law, and the agreement is unenforceable, illegal, censorship, and against public policy under common law. See New York v. NETWORK ASSOCIATES, INC. and Microstrategy v. Netsolve.

So how can the Library of Congress say what they said? On the other hand, why would a third party have to seek permissions to use each and every image from the original source in a published art book, for example.

Now search — “print run” copyright court opinion —
or use the term “lawsuit.”

Courts have upheld the ‘print run’ limits.

But things get sticky on the internet, print-on-demand, music, etc. These issues deserve their own research and articles – too much to filter through in a few minutes.

For example, can someone get a legitimate license to ‘compile’ and copyright ‘one’ works in ANY media, and then challenge limitations on “authorizing” third-party use under the Preemption Clause, since the “Right to Authorize” is one of the exclusive rights of a copyright holder of a compiled work, and can’t be contracted away under state law, since it is equivalent to a Copy-RIGHT?