I have been offered an original poster lithograph, printed in
Switzerland in the 1920s which I want to reproduce for commercial sale
both in Switzerland and abroad.

I need to know about international copyright law applicable to this
project. There is no statement of copyright on the poster, but the
original printer, who still is in business, is stated on the poster.

For information, the modern copyright statement, in French is:

Tous droits de reproduction reserves = all rights of reproduction reserved

and although probably not relevant, the original printer is based in
the French-speaking part of Switzerland.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 17 Jun 2004 07:32 PDT

Would you happen to know the actual date of the lithograph.  The year
1923 is a bit of a magic number in some copyright law, and materials
printed after 1923 are treated differently than earlier materials.

---

Clarification of Question by kosgoda-ga on 17 Jun 2004 11:00 PDT

Pafalafa,
Unfortunately I can't find this out until next week. I have had
several dates from several sources, and the litho is not dated.
However, I am in touch with the original printer (or rather the
company), who have records, and they have promised an answer next
week. As soon as I know I will pass the info. on.

---

Clarification of Question by kosgoda-ga on 17 Jun 2004 11:05 PDT

This questions may be more difficult than I had first thought, as I
assume the importance of 1923 in US law may not have international
significance. I also need to check whether any original copyright
holder has renewed their 'ownership' of the copyright.

---

Clarification of Question by kosgoda-ga on 17 Jun 2004 11:08 PDT

...and in fact I was just battling my way through this link, which may
be relevant to my situation:

http://www.unesco.org/culture/copy/copyright/switzerland/page1.html#1