The British Library Has Lost its Charm

British Library London" by Jack1956

Dear Rich: I ordered some public domain works from the British Library (assume they are absolutely, without question public domain--written in 1800s), and the British Library people say: "Here are your copies, but you can't copy them further, because, by copying them we, British Library, acquired a new copyright on them." Is this right? Can they have a copyright on photocopies of public domain works?
We're not familiar with British copyright law but, under U.S. law, creating a "slavish reproduction" of a public domain work doesn't create a new copyright. So, under U.S. copyright law, you're free to copy the public domain work. There may be a contractual prohibition on you copying the materials if you signed a license agreement with the British Library. That's a murky area and courts have sometimes ruled that the license trumps copyright.We wrote more about these issues in a previous post. In any case, this seems like a tough one for the library to enforce.

Wants to Use 1970s UK Public Service Films

Dear Rich: I was hoping to use sections of the script/narration from a series of UK Public information films from the 1970’s as one visual element in my original artwork. The lines are either a short sentence or part of a sentence (no more than 12 words in one piece or work), and the artwork will be sold in a very limited print run. We think you can use the material without seeking permission. Even if the copyright owner of this 40-year old source material saw your limited edition prints, it's unlikely they would bring an action as the copying is probably too trivial to cause any damage (de minimis copying). Alternatively, it might be excused as fair use because you're taking so little  (and you're transforming it).
Disclaimer Dept. We're writing about U.S. Copyright law. Britain doesn't have a fair use defense but it does have "fair dealing."
FYI Dept. We're pretty sure that's the remarkable Donald Pleasance narrating the first segment of our video.

British Museum Copyright Stamp (Seal)

Dear Rich: I was wondering if you could give me some information about a stamp. I have attached a picture of it. It is from a book in the British Museum. I'm trying to figure out what the number 20 on the left hand side means. Also do you have any idea what year it could be from? As I know the stamp changed some time between 1960's and 70's, from the old lion and unicorn stamp. Sorry, but we are unable to locate any information about the stamp, including any similar stamps -- we used Google's reverse image searching feature. We've posted it (left) in case other readers can fill in the gaps. We're probably off-track, but if it helps, the museum offers a 6-volume, geographically arranged, published catalogue, Catalogue of Seals in the Department of Manuscripts that covers all types of 'seals.'