Putting old yearbooks online - just do it
Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 05:49AM 
Last week on LM_Net, a Ilana, school librarian, had the temerity to ask:
We are thinking of scanning our old yearbooks and putting them online for alumni.
Have any of you done this? What privacy concerns did you have? What have you found to be the best format for this? Any advice would be appreciated.
Thoughtfully, completely and authoritatively, copyright lawyer and library guru Carol Simpson replied:
Copyright issues regarding yearbooks are not at all clear. Each book will require some research to establish whether the photos and/or the book have been protected by copyright.
As a rule of thumb, the copyright of the photos in the yearbook belongs to the person who took the photo. Consider that you have photos taken by employees, students, parents, and professional photographers. Each photo will need to be assessed separately (for example, many schools allow seniors to have their senior pictures taken by outside photographers).
Any photo taken before 1923 is in the public domain in the US. (all the rest of these dates apply to US Copyright law. If you are in another country, your mileage may vary).
Because the yearbooks were sold, they are considered "published" and the photos in the yearbooks will also be considered published.
Any yearbook published between 1923 and 1977 that has no copyright notice in the work is in the public domain. That is not necessarily true for the photos. Check each photo to see if there is a photographer's copyright notice (it will be very small). Better yet, excavate the school's contract with the photographer to see if the photographer retained copyright of the photos. For any yearbook published without notice between 1923 and March 1 1989, a copyright could have been registered with the Copyright Office after the fact, as long as the registration was made within 5 years of publication. So that will mean some research in the Copyright Office database. Yearbooks published between 1977 and March 1 1989 without notice that were not later registered within 5 years of publication are in the public domain. Each individual photo is a separate copyrightable work that will need to be researched.
The status of yearbooks published between 1923 and 1963 including the necessary copyright notice will be determined on whether the copyright of the work was renrewed following the first copyright term. That information will be in the Copyright Office database. If the copyright was not renewed, the copyright lapsed after the first copyright term. If the copyright was renewed, the copyright will expire 95 years after first publication.
For works published with notice from 1963 to 1977, the copyright expires 95 years after publication.
Works created after 1977 through March 1 1989 and published with a copyright notice will be protected for 70 years from the death of the author (for the photos) or for the yearbook (which is a work of corporate authorship most likely) the copyright will endure for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever expires first.
A work created before 1978 but published with notice between 1978 and March 1 1989 (think old family photos or school photos taken before 1-1-1978) is protected for the longer of 70 years after the date of the author; 95 years from date of publication or 120 years from date of creation, whichever expires first (corporate works); or December 31, 2047.
Works created after 1977 and published between March 1 1989 through 2002 are protected for 70 years after the death of the author, or if a work of corporate authorship 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever comes first. NO NOTICE IS REQUIRED TO HAVE A VALID COPYRIGHT FOR ANY WORK PUBLISHED AFTER March 1 1989. If the work was created before 1978 and first published during this period, the same periods apply except that the time limit is the longer of the 70 year, 95 year, 120 year or December 31, 2047 dates.
After 2002, no notice is required, and all copyrights last for 70 years from the death of the author, or for corporate works for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation.
As you can see, it isn’t a simple decision. Carol Simpson, LM_Net Jan 28, 2018
First, I have great respect for Carol's expertise and values. If you don't want to get your name in the paper for being sued for copyright infringement, listen to Carol. For many years, my thoughts around copyright have not been mainstream and are probably dangerous. So it is best to stop reading now.
Lawyers, like Carol, have a professional obligation to always give the safest advice. Were I to approach any lawyer and ask "May I drive 56mph in a 55mph zone, she would say, "No, you are breaking the law and may wind up getting a ticket and paying a fine." As I ranted back in 2008 about downloading a YouTube video having the same degree of criminality of driving a mile over the speed limit or stealing a sugar packet from a restaurant, digitizing a damn yearbook seems about as risky. The risk/benefit ratio tips to the benefit side.
If the school is nervous about a lawsuit, look for an alumni organization to sponsor the project. Is anyone going to waste money suing a group that has no money?
Post away, Ilana and others who would like to digitize and put online old yearbooks. If someone has a privacy or copyright concern, take those parts down. And ask forgiveness.
Image: Doug's 1970 high school yearbook senior photo. I can only hope the photographer (if still alive) doesn't sue me for posting it.
Reader Comments (11)
While I generally agree with this, I have heard objections from schools (and people) about alumni who have achieved fame/notoriety after graduation. If it were just headshots or team/club photos, there probably wouldn't be a question, many yearbooks have candids and those can be problematic. In at least three schools I've worked in, they have concerns about privacy or have been asked by the graduate (or the graduate's family) not to post anything publicly.
Hi Laura,
These celebs must have had been photographed doing wilder things than I did in high school! Perhaps selective deletion of photos on request might be a solution? I do see yearbooks as historical documents that really should be available to the public.
It's complicated.
Thanks,
Doug
Any one in the Legislative field who are interested in doing good; (We learned right from wrong in school and Identify personally as a good guy/ gal.)
Please consider fixing this Ignorant situation. Internet law is complex, I am aware but it is reasonable to assume that pics previously publicly viewed are public and scarcely can be deleted entirely from the www.
= to my point
There are people who have diminishing years yet to live, and should not be denyed whatever digital or digitized Photographs of themselves or Loved ones, friends lost Loves etc.
I am a man of diminishing years to live and I find some of these copyright Laws to be rediculous.
Please if you are so inclined work on this or forward the idea to improve this situatoin to the intelect that you know is one of the good ones. THANKS, KEITH KELLY
What if you come up with yearbooks from before those dates like 1916???? I have several that do not any copywrite information in them. Then could you put them online for the genealogy people???
HI Jena,
I am pretty sure any materials that old would be well past copyright protection.
All the best,
Doug
I was posting pictures from an 1800s yearbook and the school had them taken down. Public Domain didn't mean a hill of beans...the school kept me from sharing.
Although I felt "in the right" on the issue due to publishing date, I sure don't have the money to hire and attorney and fight a school.
Hi Julianne,
Perhaps work with your local historical society instead of your school?
Doug
I was looking for an old yearbooks from my schools but I can find them anywhere. I tried to contact the school but any of them answered me what do I do?
Hi Ashley,
There is a commercial website called Classmates https://www.classmates.com/ that has old yearbooks. There is a cost to access it so I have not done so.
Good luck!
Doug
I post our schools yearbooks. Classmates.com copied some of my books .
When I wanted to verify they told me to access them. I had to pay
I said I HAD TO BUY the yearbook
The reason I know they copied my box.. I put a stamp on the same page of each year book
After I mentioned that they went and removed my name stamp
Hi Carol,
I have not thought about this issue for a long time. (Retired now for four years.) Interesting to know there is still an issue out there!
Do what is best for your students and staff and you will be doing the right thing.
Doug