Can We Use European Poster?

Dear Rich: I am an author in the process of publishing a book about modern day Europe. There is a poster (left) which was issued years ago by the Council of Europe, with a slogan which says "Many Tongues One Voice." We would really like to include this in our book but the publisher says we must first get permission from the Council of Europe since the poster is copyrighted. Could you advise as to the proper procedure to get this done? In case you're not aware, there are many who believe that Satan had a hand in the creation of this poster. We don't know if that contribution rises to co-authorship but we sure wouldn't want to run up against the Evil One in a federal court case.
Right, you had a question. The typical procedure for getting permission would be to contact the apparent owner of rights -- the Council of Europe -- and to ask for permission. Here's their contact information. Although the Council of Europe is a multinational organization --  a bit like the United Nations -- it can retain copyrights. For example, the Council of Europe is listed as copyright claimant for seven U.S. copyrights (although there is no registration for the poster). You can review their U.S. copyrights by searching at the Copyright Office. Click "Search the Catalog" and filter your search by "Name." If you can't get a response for your requests, document your attempts in the event that you decide to claim fair use. As we've indicated before, there are a line of cases that make thumbnail reproductions, whether in books or on the web, more likely to be excused as a fair use, especially when accompanied by commentary or criticism.

Can We Make Custom Movie Posters?

Dear Rich: I have a question for you. We run a theatre here in Ottawa, Ontario and wanted to start creating our own 'promotional posters' for upcoming movies. Our movies are mainly cult classic and B-movies anywhere from 1940 to 1980. We would like to hire an artist to create a custom promo poster advertising the showing of the film at our theatre. We pay for rights to play the film, but we're unsure if we are allowed to create these custom movie posters. Also, we would like to print a limited supply of these posters, say 100 – 200, to offer souvenirs from our theatre. Do you have any idea if this would be breaking the law? I see this done a lot for music venue's (the resale of music venue posters), but never for theatres. Any advice would be awesome! Wow, will you be showing our favorite B cult movie, Carnival of Souls? We loved that movie when we first saw it and still love it today (and the fabulous soundtrack). And just as the lead character moved in and out of reality, the film moved in and out of copyright. Some claim it is in the public domain while others claim that a chain of title has been reestablished.
Right, you had a question. We love your theater for presenting older films (no subwoofers needed for these movies) and we love your theater for making original posters of the film. (Can we pre-order Carnival of Souls?). We hope our love for you doesn't affect our judgment but the short answer is that we think your creation and sale of movie posters will probably be fine.
The difference between music posters and movie posters? Yes, there is a diff. Movie posters usually include copyrightable elements from films or copyrighted characters from those films -- think Sam Spade, Superman, or the Terminator. That's not the case with music posters where the emphasis is on the artwork and the event. We bring that up because the only way we can see you tripping any alarms is if you use copyrighted stills or imagery from a film (or as in the case of this lawsuit, you copy a non-film copyrighted image into your poster). But if we were a betting blog, we'd bet that the copyright owners of these films (if they are even aware of your use) won't bother chasing after a hip Ottawa movie theater which may after all, be one of the few paying venues showing such films. Takeaway: If you're really paranoid, keep in mind that the more original the poster -- and the less use of stills from the films -- the less chance for hassle.
This just in from our CYA Dept., We're not experts on Canadian copyright law which differs in many ways from U.S. Copyright law (also, note the distinction between "fair dealing" and "fair use").