"Copyright lasts forever"

S

squirrel$$$bandit

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Oh, you guys will love this one

http://www.boingboing.net/2008/08/12/walmart-you-cant-sca.html

In disbelief, I point out that the photo is almost 100 years old and the people are all dead. Undeterred, the Wal-Mart employee informs me that "Copyright lasts forever. It's the law." My scans up to that point are deleted and I'm free to leave the store with my old photos unscanned.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
um, "Walmart Staff Is Ignorant" would be a better title, and even then, hardly news :)

Why do people go there?
 
Copyright law is well and good, but I think the employee was wrong. Selling copies is one thing, scanning a photo for personal use is still allowable under copyright law; it's akin to photocopying a page out of a library book.
 
A Wal-Mart empoloyee once told me I needed to get the photographer's signature before I could copy a 19th Century photo, despite me telling him the photo was over 100 years old. When all else failed, I told them I could do that... so I took the release form they gave me, went to another department, signed it and returned. "Wally" was amazed that I could go get the signature and come back so fast... and copied the photo without any further questions.
 
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