Copyright of items in Stock Photos

Yesterday I wrote about my Memorial Plaque from 1918 and how it was unlikely to be covered by copyright. I was basing this on a table on the Cornell University website that says that works published before 1923 in the USA are in the public domain. 

However, I made a simple but stupid error here – this medal wasn’t published in the USA. It was first used in the UK and so copyright law in that country applies. Copyright in the UK says that the work is protected for the life of the artist plus 70 years. I found the sculptor of the work and he died in 1965 and so copyright exists until 2035!

Now is there a risk here if it is used commercially – yes, I guess there is for the publisher of the work. It would have been a big mistake for me to create some sort of property release, but as it is, I haven’t claimed to have any sort of release for this item. However, as this is the main element of the image I think I will change the uploads to editorial just to be on the safe side. Just goes to show that stock photography can be more complicated than we think!