copyright status of an image

[cypressdome]

What would be the copyright status of an unattributed photograph (or an image of that photograph) made in 1888 of a composer who died in 1948? The composer's family still has physical possession of the photograph and it has only ever been published in the composer's 1996 biography.

Thanks,
Cypressdome

[pml]

Very unlikely to be in copyright, despite non-publication until 1996 – the taking of the photograph itself is usually when the rights on the image start running, and they are very unlikely to have persisted for 122 years. The composer’s family, having physical possession of the photograph, may still enjoy rights over that object, but since the expiry of the rights would not have control over any reproduction of it.

Please note that the national laws vary greatly on the copyright status of images, but usually the copyright resides with the photographer, as well as there being a specific term of duration: e.g. in Australia (prior to our copyright laws being raped by the previous regime), 50 years starting from the year in which the photograph was taken. Even if the copyright were of the type for musical works, i.e. life plus 50 or 70 years post mortem auctoris, the photographer was presumably an adult when alive in 1888, and for the purposes of IMSLP would have needed to live another 73 years to confound the 50 p.m.a. strictures usually encountered on uploads here. That seems extemely unlikely.

Cheers, Philip