I have a client who wish to use a specific ornament from a book dated back to 1920 as his mark in his logo. My question is if I can just simply use this straight out of the book as my client wishes, or can I tell him that I will have to design a unique ornament inspired by the one in the book? I obviously prefer to design a unique mark!
Well, if you design a unique mark, there will be no copyfight issues (I know there is a typo there, but I like it). An 89 year old mark should be out of copyright, but one can never be sure ... isn’t Little House on the Prairie (the book) still under copyright.
You should probably redraw it anyway, even if you don’t make any changes. If you scan a tearsheet from a book that was almost certainly printed letterpress, it’s going to look a little rough.
Anything published before 1923 is out of copyright in the United States.
Looks like my client will be happy to hear this. As for me, I will probably make a unique mark as a first suggestion hehe. As well as redraw the original mark, and present this as a second suggestion.
Thanks guys!
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