Fwd: Copyright status of check

[james piatt <j_piatt@xxxxxxxxx>]

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  Mar 2007 19:57:15 PDT
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 19:57:15 -0700 (PDT)
From: james piatt <j_piatt@xxxxxxxxx>
Subject: Copyright status of check
To: Cindy.Marston@xxxxxxxx
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I would refer you to an excellent piece of work entitled "Bound By Law", by ken Aoki and available through Duke's Center for Law in the Common Interest. You can also Google "Creative Commons" as they are the distributors.
   
  It is a copyright law review in comic book form, but it is very informative and used in many classes. 
   
  On page 12 of the PDF version, it notes that works published from 1923 to 1963 are copyrighted when published with notice. Unless there is a copyright symbol or the words copyright on the check, odds are it is not copyrighted.
   
  Also on page 13, supra, it notes that the copyright term of protection is 95 years after publication. BUT, if the copyright was not renewed, it is in the public domain. The point here is that under older statutes, you had to file for copyright in order to receive the protection. 
  Under certain statutes, you also had to periodically reapply to continue the copyright.
   
  Under current law, anything you create is automatically copyrighted, but in order to sue for infringement, you must file for the copyright. Weird, but that is how it is. Also, the protection periods now are much longer.
   
  I hope this is of some help. Even though 1929 is under 95 years for the fullest possible extent of the then copyright law, the chances that it is not in the public domain is real slim. The bank possible went under or was taken over in the time since then. I extremely doubt the bank went to much trouble copyrighting old checks over time. 
   
  The "Bound By Law" PDF is an extraordinarily useful quick reference guide. I would not rely upon it or me in absence of a lawyer's advice, but many of your questions can often be answered referring to it first. 
   
  You might also Google the bank, and also for old checks. People collect them, and very likely you could learn much of the history from collector sites and document experts. I hope this was useful. JP

 
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