Can he do this?

[malty]

Hi, I live in up state NY. I was asked by an organization member of a local town association if the organisation could use some original 100+ year old photos that I have in a photo essay they were compiling. I agreed by email to this member that he could use the photos in their essay and sent the photos by email to the member that made the request.
It's been about a year now since I sent out the photos and the other day while surfing the net I saw some of my photos in a photo essay with other photos on a youtube video slide display. The person from the organization that requested the photos from me had his name at the beginning of the video with a copyright. There was no mention of his organization or myself in this video. My intention when I agreed for him to use the photos was that it would be used for the town organization. There was never any use of the photos on this organizations web site, publication or any link to the photo essay. I used a contact form on the organizations web site to let them know I was not pleased that the photos were not used for where I intended them to be used. As of yet I haven't heard back from them and was wondering if this member was allowed to do this.
Thanks for any infoWhat is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?

 

[FlyingRon]

At over 100 years it's a strong possibility that the photos are in the public domain. He doesn't need permission to use photos in the public domain nor does he need to give attribution. He can put copyright notices on them (or on some encompassing work) but it means nothing to the underlying public domain stuff. Someone else would be free to cut those photos out of his greater work and use them as well.

 

[malty]

can he do that

I also forgot to mention that there are identifying marks on the photos that show that they are the photos I gave him and not from some other source.

 

[justalayman]

as ron alluded to;

the pictures, as individual pieces are beyond copyright protection and as such, anybody can use them. What is copyright protected is the assemblage or collective work.

from the all knowing and powerful Wikipedia :

Copyright Term Extension Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They have a nice little graphic on the right side of the page that demonstrates the timelines of the various copyright protection rights coverages.

 

[malty]

can he do this

He acquired the individual photos as an agent of the organization for the organization, so shouldn't the assembled collective photos be copyrighted by the organization rather than this individual?

 

[FlyingRon]

No, the mere assemblage of public domain information doesn't make them protectable by copyright. There has to be some additional creative work that makes the new derived work protectable.

As for the copyright. If the organization wants to assert that he did that work for hire for them and they should own the copyright, that is up to them. However, generally, the presumption is that things are NOT work for hire and the rights remain with the creator unless there's some compelling employment or contractual relationship (just being a voluntary member generally won't do it).

 

[The Occultist]

And even if the organization did wish to make such an assertion, that is something that has absolutely nothing to do with you.