Auke Wrote:Actually, if the photos are in the public domain (which is usually the case with these official portraits, I presume) and someone then publishes them, that person holds the copyright. It's a little bit strange but one isn't allowed to copy a photo from a book, even if it was in the public domain before it was published.
Auke,
No, this is not it. The book, as a whole, is copyrighted, but that does not make the author of the book the legal owner of the copyright on any public domain picture. The fact that the book is copyrighted limits or prevents you from copying/reproducing its content, but ou can freely use the original picture for whatever your purpose is without risking any possible claim from the author of the book.
The fact is that those pictures fell in the public domain. As such, legally speaking, no one has the right to copyright them again.
Marc
