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English Door Knockers


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Hmmm. Classic designer objects? Sounds like concertinas may be covered by that description as well as door knockers.

 

Not the engineering, but quite possibly fretwork designs, maybe even bellows papers? And that would raise at least three issues:

  • What would be the status of photographs taken before the law goes into effect? (Better take lots of photos now?)
  • What would be the status of objects for which the designer's identity isn't known?
  • Who would own the copyright of an object which was designed under contract but where the design itself was not specified as being something specifically contracted for* (perhaps because at the time of creation, ownership was not legally an issue)?

* Concertina fretwork patterns would be a potential example, where an external jobber was paid to "cut" the fretwork. In such a case, the individual might even have been contracted because of his designs, but with the designs having been developed independently and before the contract.

 

Hmm. I just thought of an even thornier problem:

  • Will this prohibit -- or at least inhibit -- auctions from posting or publishing images of items at auction? In particular, will they have to avoid publishing photos of items where they can't positively identify the designer... just in case?
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And what about pictures that include clothing, cars, electronic devices etc? It sounds like a law that will be pretty much unenforceable.

 

Or we'll all wind up in jail? :unsure:

 

For that matter, what happens now if someone publishes a copy of a document where the copyright has expired under the laws of the country where it's published, but not in a country where it was previously published?

 

Hmm. Further issues, I suppose. As previously noted, the incidental appearance of something "protected" in a broader photograph with other intent is currently allowed. Will the new law change that? And does it provide specific exemptions for news reportage? Or police? At least some automobiles must qualify as protected designs. Imagine it suddenly being illegal to take photos of accident sites, or at least to make them public.

 

 

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If the door knocker is photographed as a close up shot, without capturing other features of the door, such house number or name, then I would have thought it would very difficult for anyone to be able to identify the photo as being taken at any particular house, unless the knocker was of a rare type or one off hand crafted...

Edited by banjojohn
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"Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on the door, except that it was very large. It is also a fact, that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his whole residence in that place; also that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London, even including -- which is a bold word -- the corporation, aldermen, and livery. Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years’ dead partner that afternoon. And then let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of change -- not a knocker, but Marley’s face."

 

http://www.authorama.com/a-christmas-carol-2.html

 

"A Christmas Carol", Charles Dickens, 1843.

 

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I have become obsessed with the door knockers of England. As you you know, I travel to the UK from the USA every year to perform at folk clubs. These gigs of mine are often in small towns and cities, Faversham, Chichester, Lewes, Whitstable, Harwich, etc.

 

 

Don't they have interesting door knockers in America Jody?

 

Are the English ones anything like these shown in Google Images?

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=American+Door+knockers&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG1OGGwebJAhVFshQKHegcB7kQ_AUICCgC&biw=1270&bih=883#tbm=isch&q=English+Door+knockers

 

Chris

 

PS If Google can get away with showing these pictures of door knockers, I am sure you can!

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Don't they have interesting door knockers in America Jody?

 

Are the English ones anything like these shown in Google Images?

 

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=American+Door+knockers&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG1OGGwebJAhVFshQKHegcB7kQ_AUICCgC&biw=1270&bih=883#tbm=isch&q=English+Door+knockers

 

Chris

 

PS If Google can get away with showing these pictures of door knockers, I am sure you can!

Well, I just googled "American door knockers" and got pretty much the same thing.
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