Lapidary Journal is still in publication. Can I take a photo of an article in last month’s issue and post it without infringing on their copyright? Last year’s articles? Something from 1960?
Are there laws, or are we allowed to draw lines by rationalizing that our good intent makes it okay?
I’m not picking a fight, you can see by some of my past posts that I’m genuinely curious about how and where we draw the line. For example, facetdiagrams.org contains thousands of designs, most of which aren’t available even though the designers are long gone, or at the very least aren’t looking to make money from the design. That seems a bit ridiculous.
Fred W. Van Sant published several design volumes, Star Cuts. My understanding is that Jeff Graham purchased the copyright to Van Sant’s material. Graham’s estate still sells his books via SilverSupplies.com, but they don’t sell Van Sant’s books. With Fred and Jeff no longer living and Fred’s books no longer being sold (I can’t find them), are we free to now share his designs?