Wants to Use Ladies in Pool Picture

my mom as a teenager

Dear Rich: I am taking an assemblage class and mix different medias including photos. One image I created included a photo of ladies in a pool from the 1930's. I've seen it in magazines and on greeting cards, etc. A lot of people loved my collage. I think if I give them away it's probably okay, but if it goes further and people want to "buy" my collages, can I get in trouble for including a photo that I didn't take? As we've noted before, infringement occurs whether the works are distributed for free or sold for a profit. The distinction probably shouldn't matter in your case because if the photo was published in the 1930s, it would only be protected under U.S. copyright if it had been renewed. (Less than 15% of works were renewed.) In other words, odds are good that the work is in the public domain. Checking the copyright status of pre-1978 works, particularly photos, is difficult and you would need to track down the source or original publisher of the image. If we were a betting blog, we'd bet that you won't have any problems with your planned use.
What about the copyright exception for photos of women in swimsuits? Because of the immense popularity of photos of women in swimsuits, male lawmakers in 1983 created an exception to copyright law known as the Anderson Rule (named after Baywatch star, Pamela Anderson), which permits limited reproductions of photographs of swimsuit-clad women if the use is not-for-profit and proper attribution is provided. (After a case was brought by Victoria's Secret, it was established that the rule does not apply to women in lingerie.) Following an outburst by women's groups, the Anderson rule was expanded in 1987 to include men, as well. Of course, none of this is true but we just wanted to keep you on the page as long as possible to improve our SEO.

Trademark Renewal Scams

Dear Rich: I have a trademark registered at the USPTO. I got a letter from a trademark renewal service in Washington, D.C. warning that my trademark has to be renewed right away. But according to your books, my trademark doesn't need to be renewed for another 9 months. Who's right? You know those people who are busy protecting your inheritance in Nigeria? Apparently they are also watching out for your trademark. We believe your letter is one of many trademark renewal scams. Typically, it starts with a pseudo-official letter from some company that sounds like it's affiliated with the government (scroll down for a list of possible offenders). They've mined your information from the USPTO database and the reason you're hearing from them so far in advance of the actual renewal date is that they want to pre-empt any mail you might get from a legitimate source such as your attorney.
Other scams. There are other trademark scams. For example, the Dear Rich staff got a letter a couple of weeks ago from this company offering to "publish" our registered trademark data on the Internet in return for $589 payment. Wait ... for the price of a Droid Bionic, the TMP crew will duplicate what the USPTO and Trademarkia already do for free. (Our favorite part of the letter --  a pathetic and ineffective attempt to avoid U.S. jurisdiction -- said, "It shall be pointed out that TM Publisher Corp. has its headquarters in Switzerland and the postal address in the USA serves the customers to handle payments ... ") BTW, one law firm has recently gone after an alleged TM scammer.
Two post-registration dates you need to know. Just so you know, if you miss two keys dates, your federal registration will be canceled.

• Continued Use. Sometime during the fifth year after federal registration -- that is sometime between the fifth and sixth anniversary of federal registration -- you must file a "Declaration Of Continued Use Or Excusable Nonuse Under Section 8." The requirements are here. So if your mark was registered on July 1, 2007, sometime between July 1, 2012 and July 1, 2013, you must file the Section 8 declaration.
• Renewal. File within six months prior to end of the tenth year of registration. 

If you miss either of the deadlines, there is a six-month grace period to correct the error, provided you pay additional fees.