Newspaper Copyright (cartoons)

[acarter29]

Hello. I work for Bury Archive Service and have recently been looking through some old copies of The Bury Times from the 1920s and 1930s. In these editions of the paper there were cartoons published depicting the Bury FC games as well as other events in and around Bury. Every cartoon was signed by the artist (Benjamin Crawshaw). I have delved into his family history and he died in 1973 in Wembley. He never married and the only relative I have been able to track down is his great nephew Nigel Taylor born in 1965. I have not been able to find anything further about Nigel.

I know that copyright would expire 70 years after his death (31st December 1973) but am a bit confused as to whether permission from an existing family member would allow us to do something with this collection. The newspaper that he provided the cartoons for do not have any details of the employment contract. Any help would be greatly appreciated.   

[Gadget]

It would very much depend on the contract he had with the newspaper - he could have given them the right to print/publish or sold the copyright.
 
If it were me  (and I've had experience of getting such material for books/articles), I'd get permssion from both the newspaper and the next of kin.

Did he leave a will?

Added - incidentally, A photo that I took a while ago was used as a cover for a book (published by Routledge). They paid me a fee for the use of it but I still have the copyright.

[mazi]

Does the metropolitan borough of bury not have its own legal service department, who are best qualified to answer this?

I know it is some time ago but there are some informative replies to some of your other posts that may have escaped your notice.

Mike

[tillypeg]

I know it is some time ago but there are some informative replies to some of your other posts that may have escaped your notice.

Mike

and some kind people on the Photo Restoration Board to thank.......

[Billyblue]

Adding to Gadget's advice - who has copyright would depend on whether he did the cartoon and sold it to / was paid for it by, the newspaper, or if he was commissioned by the paper to do the cartoon in the first place.

You say the paper has no detail of the contract.  But they should be able to tell you if he was employed by the paper, or was freelance.

If you've tracked down a family member, can you contact that person?

Dawn M