to: [legal counsel] @harvard.edu
date: 14 February 2014 19:11
Dear Sirs,
I am one of the long term volunteers for Wikimedia Commons, a charitable community project that makes free media available for Wikipedia and the benefit of public knowledge, with over 20 million images.
I have been asked to upload selected batches of scans of photographs from your HOLLIS database that are out of copyright worldwide, based on being published in the US before 1923. An example being the photographs of Frank Nicholas Meyer who died in 1918.[1] Your copyright terms for the HOLLIS website allows for reuse of images by confirming that "as may be permitted under fair use or another copyright law exemption" and being public domain, these images are exempt as no copyright can apply.
I have uploaded a sample file at [3], if you would prefer a different form of credit line or context, please do advise me as to your preferences. If you believe these photographs are not public domain, please let me know on what basis a copyright claim would be valid.
Links:
[1] http://hollis.harvard.edu/?q%3Dmaterial-id:matPhoto+author:%22Frank%20Nicholas%20Meyer%22
[2] http://hollis.harvard.edu/help.aspx?topic%3Dcopyright
[3] https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cinnamomum_camphora,_Japan._AAE-00591.jpg
Thank you in advance for any feedback.
Fae