> Hi(gh)!
>
> On 16.04.2013 13:23, Thomas de Groot wrote:
>
>> That would be indeed challenging as a (large?) number of authors is not
>> active anymore and may have moved away,
>
> ....or even passed away - the oldest image files in my private
> collection date back to 1998! Who inherits the copyright if no explicit
> testamental provisions had been made? Depends on the country... I don't
> even know how the rules are in Germany...

IANAL, but the concept of copyright in the American sense does not exist 
in Germany. Instead, there is a set of author's rights ("Urheberrecht"), 
and the heirs do get to exercise and benefit from these until so-many 
years after the author's death (the duration depending on the type of 
work AFAIK), after which the work passes on into the public domain.

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