George Cole Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 (edited) The first known car advertisement appeared in an 1898 edition of Scientific American. Titled: Dispense with the Horse, the Winton Motor Carriage Company stated the hydrocarbon engine produced no odors or vibration, and cost about 1/2 cent a mile to operate. Edited July 2, 2021 by George Cole (see edit history) 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Bond Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Daimler and Benz were advertising as early as 1896. Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Cole Posted June 30, 2021 Author Share Posted June 30, 2021 I've now found some ads dated to 1888 but will not copy-paste them here due to concerns of copywrite infringement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 Nothing that was printed in 1888 is still under copyright. Even if it appears in a web page or a printed book that is copyrighted only the text added by the author can be copyrighted...the image can't be. If its an advertisement from a publication like a newspaper or magazine, it's unlikely it was ever copyrighted. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1937hd45 Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 1865 is the date of this Roper handout, car is in The Henry Ford today. Bob 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted June 30, 2021 Share Posted June 30, 2021 2 hours ago, George Cole said: I've now found some ads dated to 1888 but will not copy-paste them here due to concerns of copywrite infringement. Yes, George, please post them. They without a doubt are in the public domain--and probably have been for the last 130 years. It would be a rare ad or car catalogue that would have been copyrighted in the first place. A manufacturer would be happy to have its information publicized widely. Can you imagine, "Hey! Stop reproducing our ads! We don't want anyone else to know about our product!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Gariepy Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 3 hours ago, George Cole said: I've now found some ads dated to 1888 but will not copy-paste them here due to concerns of copywrite infringement. They are WAY out of copyright. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edinmass Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Makes me smile to know the first ad was as full of BS and hype as the ads today! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Cole Posted July 1, 2021 Author Share Posted July 1, 2021 The ads I've found are in hard copy books of vintage advertisements, published within the past 20 years or so. All have copywrite protection statements. One says: "All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any forms by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying or storage and retrieval systems - without written permission from the copywrite holder." That's enough for me to believe I should not be wantonly copying them here from that source. Regards, George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 13 hours ago, JV Puleo said: Nothing that was printed in 1888 is still under copyright. Even if it appears in a web page or a printed book that is copyrighted only the text added by the author can be copyrighted...the image can't be. If its an advertisement from a publication like a newspaper or magazine, it's unlikely it was ever copyrighted. George, we appreciate your integrity very much. However, this is the best explanation. No one can take an ad from 130 years ago and suddenly, selfishly claim it for himself, and copyright it. As Mr. Puleo explained, it's only the ADDED information from a recent author that can be copyrighted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Ash Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Here is the 1899 Winton at the Heritage Museum and Gardens on Cape Cod. Apparently, the 1898 ad was good enough to sell 100 Wintons in 1899. How many have survived? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JV Puleo Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, George Cole said: The ads I've found are in hard copy books of vintage advertisements, published within the past 20 years or so. All have copywrite protection statements. One says: "All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or used in any forms by any means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying or storage and retrieval systems - without written permission from the copywrite holder." They all say that. It's "boilerplate"...utterly meaningless regarding out of copyright material but it scares people. The current copyright law was written to protect the movie industry. It is known, in the trade, as "the Micky Mouse Law"... meaning just what it implies. The lobbyists that pushed it through knew little and cared less about print materials and the congressmen that supported it probably even less. The result is, or was, dreadfully ambiguous and virtually unenforceable because it often contradicts itself. But...it is clear that ANYTHING published 100 years ago is in the public domain. When the law was first passed, someone took advantage of its wretched vageness to try to copyright all of Shakespear's plays. It didn't work - but it pointed out what an idiotic piece of legislation it was. For instance... about 20 years ago we published a copy of Executive Document 99 - the Civil War listing of all arms & accoutrements purchase by the Federal Government during the Civil War. As a US government publication is was never and CAN NOT be copyrighted but we included that bit of boilerplate to cover the introduction and commentary that preceded the actual document. Edited July 1, 2021 by JV Puleo (see edit history) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Bond Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 George, can appreciate you wanting to play it safe but those ads exist in the public domain and are availabe in multiple sources. Searching the Internet will show many of them readily available. Chances are whoever published that book 20 years ago is no longer still in business. While his book is copyright, it still contains a lot that isnt. If anyone can find additional ads to post here it would be interesting to see them. Google can help. Terry 16 hours ago, JV Puleo said: Nothing that was printed in 1888 is still under copyright. Even if it appears in a web page or a printed book that is copyrighted only the text added by the author can be copyrighted...the image can't be. If its an advertisement from a publication like a newspaper or magazine, it's unlikely it was ever Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 On 6/30/2021 at 5:23 PM, John_S_in_Penna said: Yes, George, please post them. They without a doubt are in the public domain--and probably have been for the last 130 years. It would be a rare ad or car catalogue that would have been copyrighted in the first place. A manufacturer would be happy to have its information publicized widely. Can you imagine, "Hey! Stop reproducing our ads! We don't want anyone else to know about our product!" Inasmuch as I know paid ads in magazines are NOT copyrighted. Of course, the articles within and cover design have copyrights. If the ads were copyrighted, one would not see the exact same ads in National Georgraphic, Life, Readers Digest, Motor Trend, etc. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ply33 Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 On 6/30/2021 at 1:25 PM, George Cole said: I've now found some ads dated to 1888 but will not copy-paste them here due to concerns of copywrite infringement. I find the public domain information web page published by Cornell University a handy guide to what I can put on my website. As noted by others above, your 1888 item, even if copyrighted when originally published, is now in public domain as are anything published before 1926. Interestingly, if it wasn’t published then it would have to be older than 1901 under the worst case conditions. In any case, your 1888 date is earlier than both of those. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike6024 Posted July 2, 2021 Share Posted July 2, 2021 All works published in the United States before 1924 are in the public domain. Works published after 1923, but before 1978 are protected for 95 years from the date of publication. If the work was created, but not published, before 1978, the copyright lasts for the life of the author plus 70 years As a general rule, for works created after January 1, 1978, copyright protection lasts for the life of the author plus an additional 70 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Cole Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 1888 Motorwagen Ad. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Cole Posted July 2, 2021 Author Share Posted July 2, 2021 1895 Duryea Ad 1896 Winton Ad 1897 Haynes Ad 1898 Winton Ad 1899 Autocar Ad 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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