Cartoon that ran in 1928 LIFE magazine, likely owner is...

August 3, 2015 7:27 PM

Seeking advice on how to clear the rights to republish a cartoon that appeared in LIFE magazine in April 1928. Henry Luce bought the rights to LIFE in 1936--and when his company (Time Inc.) bought the previous LIFE, according to Wikpedia, "Time Inc. sold Life’s subscription list, features, and goodwill to Judge." Judge went out of business in 1947. I'm not trying to clear a photo, as that would be easier, contact Getty Images.

Wishing to clear copyright on the 1928 cartoon, I've written to a publisher that reprinted the cartoon in a compilation that came out in 1930. But...likely the 1928 original publication in LIFE would take precedence, whether or not the publisher gives me a license to reproduce the cartoon.

Anyone out there with old (pre-1936) LIFE magazine rights-clearing experience? As opposed to Life Experience, which is what I'm getting right now.

Or do we think Luce just bought it all...
Or am I likely barking up the wrong tree and the cartoonist's estate may retain rights?

posted by xaryts to Media & Arts (6 answers total)

Check cartoonists estate. It's not James Thurber, is it?
posted by wwartorff at 8:10 PM on August 3, 2015

Another avenue to research... there's the possibility that, depending on whether or not the copyright was renewed, it might even be in the public domain.
https://copyright.cornell.edu/resources/publicdomain.cfm
posted by stormyteal at 10:16 PM on August 3, 2015

Best answer: Copyrighted works first published in the U.S. from 1923 to 1963 were required to renew their copyright registration in their 28th year. As works first published in the U.S. in 1928, if renewal did not occur, 1928 issues of LIFE would be in the public domain. If it did occur, the copyright would expire on the first of the year 95 years after the publication date, in this case on January 1, 2024.

Four issues of LIFE magazine were registered for April 1928:

v. 91, 1928, nos.
2370, Apr. 5. © Apr. 2 ; 2 c. Apr. 3 ; B 785653.
2371, Apr. 12. © Apr. 9; 2 c. Apr. 16 ; B 786034.
2372, Apr. 19. © Apr. 16; 2 c. Apr. 17 ; B 786353.
2373, Apr. 26. © Apr. 23; 2 c. Apr. 24; B 786617.

Since a copyright renewal has to be sometime in the 28th year, the renewal would be in the copyright records for the original copyright date plus 27 years or 28 years (also 29 years since there are a few periods in the past where the Copyright Office was slow in processing renewals). I've performed a careful manual search of the renewal records for 1955, 1956, and 1957. No renewal was recorded for any issue of LIFE magazine in these years. This is consistent with UPenn's research which says that the first copyright renewal for an issue of LIFE was for the Nov. 23, 1936 issue.

If the first place the cartoon was published was the April 1928 issue of LIFE magazine and its copyright was never registered separately, you're in luck, the cartoon is now in the public domain.
posted by RichardP at 10:31 PM on August 3, 2015 [13 favorites]

I've done work with TIME and they're still quoting LIFE stuff as theirs, so I'd assume their rights people are the ones to get in touch with. http://content.time.com/time/reprints/
posted by mynameisluka at 10:57 PM on August 3, 2015

Amy Wong handles this: [e-mail]. If it's a John Held cartoon, be prepared to pay.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:00 AM on August 4, 2015

Response by poster: Thank you all, such a delight to get up in the morning and have a plateful of help. The cartoonist is Gluyas Williams (1888-1982), not Held or Thurber--and I've got my fingers crossed that with all your super information I can make some headway this week. BTW, Time's The Vault is a pleasant interface. They made an effort with their browse by year covers.
posted by xaryts at 5:20 AM on August 4, 2015