Copyrights question.

I intend publishing a book with numerous photos of aircraft. The photographs vary in origin. Most of the original photographers will be properly credited and I have their permission. The remaining photos are from a friend's collection, and he does not know who took the original photos because they were purchased and paid for {edit} from aviation related stores {edit}.

The question is: Do I have the right to publish those photos since they were bought and paid for? Or could I be sued at a later date for royalties for making money from those photos?

Do you relinquish your copyrights to a photo when you sell it without any conditions?

You have acquired from your friend (presumably) all the rights to the photos that he acquired when he bought them.

The question is, what rights did he acquire? Did he acquire the copyright, in which case all is well, or did he acquire a licence to use the photographs in some way? In which case, what way?

Speaking pragmatically, if the photographers were amateurs, and there is no record or memory of any conditions, then in your place I would take the risk of using them. If they were professionals, then it is unlikely that they would have sold the copyright, and I would proceed with caution.

G

IMHO you have 3 ways of purchasing images.

1 is to buy the image for your own private use
2 is to buy the image to use in a book / whatever but a percentage of the royalties must be paid back to the original photographer
3 you buy the total and unresticted rights to the image (in the old days it meant that you held the negative)

So unless you have unequivicable proof that you own the sole rights you probably come under opt 1 or 2

If in doubt ask a solicitor

getting sued doesn't have to mean you did anything wrong. It means somebody wants to sue you. sometimes the cost associated with "Proving you are right" is higher than any benifits you may have made. That alone is reason enough for somebody to sue you thinking you'll give'em something for nothing to avoid the lawsuit.
Bottom line: Best Defense is to not be there. Don't use anything you don't have permission for. Talk to a lawyer. Show (as in Peddle) your project to some publishers (with images noted as to which have permission, and which don't and why) and see what kind of free advice you get from them. (you were talking self publish right?).

Just sticking my oar in...

I think it would be pretty unusual to have bought prints from any outlet, even the photographer direct, which included the copyright in the sale.

Unless you have specific proof that the reproduction rights were transferred, proceed with caution. You'd be better advised to either source alternative pictures of the specific aircraft or attempt to track down the photographers.

Failing that, you could always see if a publisher will touch those photos without proof of copyright permissions and publish in the hope that nobody who knows the photographer happens to read it. Then it comes down to how scrupulous (or lucky) you feel.

If any of us sold a few prints to someone, I think we would not expect them to even attampt to use them in a publication without our permission and a further payment being made.

I think if you reverse the question like this then the answer becomes pretty clear.