I have recently come across my collection of old ship modeling magazines from the late 1980s and early to mid 1990s. I'm pretty sure the magazines are all defunct now, but 36 of them have articles about RC Warship Combat that are pretty informative. They include the "In Harms Way" columns by Steve Milholland and cannon construction articles by John C White and various battle descriptions by several other authors. I think they would make a good resource for everyone if scanned and archived here on RCNavalCombat. Is there any reason I shouldn't scan these old magazine articles and create an archive on this site? Ron Hunt
So how do you find out who holds a copyright on something like these old articles? I can't imagine that it would be worth enforcing anything on 25 year old magazine articles today but I would like to get permission from whoever holds it if possible. Ron Hunt
Looking up information on the first magazine, U.S. Boat & Ship Modeler, shows the publishing company RCMB, Inc. went defunct in 1993 (CA State tax licence suspended) I didn't find any other company Copyright holder in the US Copyright Catalog. This one is of particular interest to me since it was the first article I read about warship combat. Ron Hunt
I suspect you would have to either get permission from the author or whatever company was assigned the copyright, but you should probably ask a lawyer that actually knows about copyright. Maybe nobody would care if you reposted the old articles, but why risk it?
If you are really concerned .. just scan it into a PDF and share with those that are interested by email/pm. I would be interested in seeing them.
The lawyerese I think says the original author retains the copyright in a collective work like a magazine in absence of an express assignment of copyright, plus this stuff is so old it has no chance of being republished anywhere else and will be lost. Its still got some value as a recruiting and educational tool for the combat hobby though. I'll work on getting the material scanned as time permits. Ron Hunt
1980s and 1990s isn't really that old as far as copyright goes. Here's what the US Gov't has to say at http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-duration.html: The term of copyright for a particular work depends on several factors, including whether it has been published, and, if so, the date of first publication. As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. For an anonymous work, a pseudonymous work, or a work made for hire, the copyright endures for a term of 95 years from the year of its first publication or a term of 120 years from the year of its creation, whichever expires first. It's something I'd be personally interested in seeing, and I have a couple of these myself, but it's not something I would host here.
Right Keri, its interesting how the gubbernmit has recently (last 30 years) extended copyright basically forever, past any of our lifetimes... initially it was 14 years, then 28, then 75, now 95/120 years. They don't even have to renew it anymore its automatic renewal. But for it to be a valid copyright I would think the publishing company would still need to exist, or have transferred the copyright to some other company. Neither of those things appears to be true in this case, no other copyright holder listed that I can find. In addition it looks to me like this may fall under the "fair use" exceptions to copyright, (ie educational, not for profit, nature of work, effect on works value) Ron Hunt
Yep... It actually is a problem, as it is still valid even if the company dies, as someone has purchased the assets/copywrites even if it was a bankruptcy sale or estate transfer. There was an interesting article I read years back on how the extensions of copywrite time actually lead to an increase in document unavailability that more than offset any growth induced by the copywrite (Which is the purpose of copywrite, to provide an incentive to produce works) although even in an academic sense, fair use generally allows for the excerpt of portions of the article, not the wholesale duplication of an entire article unless it is to replace a damaged, legally owned copy. I too would love to see the articles.... I still remmeber but have lost the articles from the mid 90's that got me interested in this hobby
I think I still have a couple of Scale Ship Modeller magazines that had articles about the hobby from the early ninetys as well.
