I was wondering about the copyright issue. Is that a book published by the government? It's my understanding that anything published by the government is public domain (that's why we tend to see the same clips of things like the rocket launches and such over and over). I wonder if, say, you wanted to show the picture of the kid using the TRS-80 in an article about TRS-80s...Would that be covered under fair use? Or perhaps use it in our film when we talk about, say, how computers back then were focused on marketing to education. I know the knee jerk reaction from lawyers is to disallow anything as fair use (they prefer explicit permission, naturally), but there is wiggle room. Of course, we're assuming that the publishers or copyright holders of this book are still around and care enough to send cease and desist orders. I doubt that would happen if they are defunct.
Yikes! That is one glossy book. :)
I was wondering about the copyright issue. Is that a book published by the government? It's my understanding that anything published by the government is public domain (that's why we tend to see the same clips of things like the rocket launches and such over and over). I wonder if, say, you wanted to show the picture of the kid using the TRS-80 in an article about TRS-80s...Would that be covered under fair use? Or perhaps use it in our film when we talk about, say, how computers back then were focused on marketing to education. I know the knee jerk reaction from lawyers is to disallow anything as fair use (they prefer explicit permission, naturally), but there is wiggle room. Of course, we're assuming that the publishers or copyright holders of this book are still around and care enough to send cease and desist orders. I doubt that would happen if they are defunct.
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com