posted on May 2, 2007 10:13:21 PM new
I have an airline poster and I had it reproduced a few times for friends so I still have the negative. Was thinking I would get some made up and put on Ebay. Are there any restrictions on this?
Sorry I didn't get a chance to respond to your original post! I saw it right before turning in for the night.
Your biggest concern with this venture is copyright. Chances are that this image is not in the public domain, which means someone owns the copyright to it. (if you tell me the date of production, I can help make sure for you). As to who owns the copyright... it could be the artist, the advertising agency or the Airline company. Either way, it is illegal to make copies without permission of the copyright owner. In fact, you probably should not have created the negative in the first place, and certainly shouldn't have reproduced it for friends.
That said... just from an economical point of view, I don't think your venture would be very successful anyhow. Most people are looking for authentic vintage paper ephemera. It's a tough market to begin with, and I've found that the items identified as reproductions struggle even more than original material.
Sorry it's not more positive... but my recommendation is to not go forward with your idea. I hope that helps!
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posted on May 3, 2007 05:19:42 AM new
there is no date that I can see but just the name of the photographer in the lower left hand corner. It has parrots on it and I thought bird lovers would like to have it. It is really unique. No copyright on it anywhere, just LTU International Air, Germany
The photographer signed his work.... that's all he needs to copyright his piece. (and in present day works... they don't even have to do that!) Unless this piece dates back to the 20's , I can say with almost complete certainty that copying it is a violation of the owners copyright.
Of course... this is all for US copyright... I have no clue about German copyright. But if it's an American poster for a German airline, the same copyright laws would likely apply (because the poster was probably produced in America)
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posted on May 3, 2007 07:07:59 AM new
I agree with eauction except I was surprised by a group of 1980's postcards that were beautifully reproduced from 1920's rare fruit crate labels. They have sold quite steadily. Not really reproductions, because the originals weren't postcards. I think the buyers are fruit crate label collectors although some buy them for the topic shown. Permission and copyright information is displayed on each card.
posted on May 3, 2007 09:11:15 AM new
There's a famous, very old jazz musician in our town (in his 90s) who appeared in some movies 'way back when. I went to a big dinner a couple of years ago where there were raffle drawings for items. I won not one but two movie posters reproduced by him in large quantity and thought great, I can sell them on eBay. No takers--probably because they aren't original.
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