Talk:Yousuf Karsh

German discussion [1]

Hints from LoC

Answer from James W. Martin, Jr. Law Library Reading Room (Library of Congress) (note that this answer is as a GOV work PD in the US), 2006 Jan 5

"If you review the language of Copyright Circular 01 concerning public domain you will see that depending upon the date of publication, the existence of a notice of copyright and the possible application of Uruguay Round Agreements Act, it is possible that a work may or may not be in the public domain in the United States (see specifically “Notice of Copyright” section page 4). You may also want to examine Copyright Circular 38b, Highlights of Copyright Agreements Contained in the Uruguay Agreements Act, and Copyright Circular 15a, Duration of Copyright. These publications are available through the Copyright Office’s website at:

< http://www.copyright.gov/circs/ >

The Copyright Office also has an experimental searchable database of registration notices. I searched this database and found nineteen entries for Mr. Karsh including photographs that were re-registered beginning in 1986 and published works of his photographs. You can also search this database by going to

< http://www.copyright.gov/records/cohm.html >

and entering his name as “Karsh, Yousuf.” Please note that there are three sets of entries that you will need to review.

Since the Copyright Office’s database of registration is not completely comprehensive you should consult with that office if you do not see the particular work of interest."

From the database 14. Registration Number: TX-1-300-191 Title: Karsh : a fifty-year retrospective / [photos., compilation of photos., and text] Yousuf Karsh. Imprint: Boston: Little, Brown, c1983. Description: 191 p. Claimant: Yousuf Karsh and Estrellita Karsh Created: 1983 Published: 13Sep83 Registered: 1Mar84 Author on © Application: co-author of text: acEstrellita Karsh. Claim Limit: NEW MATTER: "65% of photos.; text; compilation of photos."

See also 1996 VA-809-500

While I do meanwhile agree that most of these images would be copyrighted in the U.S., let me point out that citing TX-1-300-191 is irrelevant. First, the claim only concerns "new matter", and we don't know which 65% of the images fall under that copyright, and second, we need the first publication of a work to determine its copyright status. The Albert Einstein image, for instance, was published in Karsh, Y.: Portraits of Greatness, University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1959, and Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, 1959, p. 68. (See [2].) Whether that is its first publication, I do not know, but it seems likely. On a side note, you might want to take a look at en:Wikipedia:Public domain, and for the Einstein image in particular also en:Image:Albert Einstein by Yousuf Karsh.jpg and en:Wikipedia:Possibly unfree images#January_25. We have to consider each case individually. Lupo 09:15, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

The first publication of Einstein's photo was on the cover of Wisdom magazine in Jan. 1956, its first issue. Karsh was their main photographer and did most of their cover photos. See also a request to undelete some other photos by Karsh. --Wikiwatcher1 (talk) 16:05, 30 July 2013 (UTC)

Answer from Fetterman Gallery (US)

Question: "it would be very kind to let me know whether photographic works of Y. Karsh which are in the Public Domain in Canada e.g. http://data4.collectionscanada.ca/netacgi/nph-brs?s2=&s4=&s3=&s1=&s8=571914&Sect4=AND&l=20&Sect1=IMAGE&Sect2=THESOFF&Sect4=AND&Sect5=FOTOPEN&Sect6=HITOFF&d=FOTO&p=1&u=http%3A//www.collectionscanada.ca%2F02%2F02011503_e.html&r=1&f=G are also PD in the US." Answer: Peter Fetterman <pfgallery @ earthlink.net> No they are are all copywrighted I believe -- Peter Fetterman Gallery www.peterfetterman.com"

Note that Fetterman is mentioned in the category contacts at [3] --Historiograf 19:26, 6 January 2006 (UTC)

• I think we can trust Library and Archives Canada on this one. They specifically state that the copyright varies on the images in their collection, and they cite the names of the legal representatives of the Karsh estate. For the US, this is Retna, Ltd., 24 West 25th St., 12th Floor, New York, NY, 10010. Tel.: 212-255-0622. We do not have enough information on the photographs to know ourselves what the copyright status is. Physchim62 21:21, 27 January 2006 (UTC)
  • Retna Ltd. is the U.S. representative of CameraPress, and thus has a direct economic interest in the image. One might try asking Mr. Jerry Fiedler (custodian of the Karsh Estate), there's an e-mail given at the Library and Archives of Canada. Lupo 09:19, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Would you please do this - thanks! Your English might be better that mine ;-) --Historiograf 20:54, 30 January 2006 (UTC)