who owns Zone VI?

[Witold Grabiec]

I'm looking for a contact (phone number would be best) to whoever it is that owns the rights to Zone VI stuff (it's specifically about the newsletter and copyright issues). I've called sales at Calumet and got nowhere. Web search got me pretty much the same. From Calumet's salesrep it sounded like both (Calumet and Zone VI) are owned by some other entity.

Does anyone know which way I should turn?

[Mark Sampson]

Zone VI was sold to Calumet Photographic around 1991 by its founder, Fred Picker. Richard Ritter, who worked at Zone VI for Picker, is an excellent contact for Zone VI related questions. I would think that the original Zone VI (1973-93) newsletters are out of print, though.

[Bob Salomon]

Calumet's parent is an english company.

[Louie Powell]

Witold -

As you know, Calumet purchased Zone VI, and subsequently, Calumet was purchased by an English company (that I believe also owns Cambo in Holland).

But if you are looking to contact someone about copyright issues surrounding the now-defunct Zone VI newsletter, Calumet sales is entirely too far down the food chain to be helpful. Instead, you need to get into the corporate heirarchy, peferably to a corporate lawyer (can't imagine a US corporation without at least a few dozen lawyers running around getting in the way).

You might be able to get to the right person by looking for a local Chicagoland telephone number. It's been quite a while since Calumet acquired Zone VI, so it might require someone to do some research before they are prepared to have a productive discussion with you. So a better idea might be to simply send a letter (addressed to the President of the company) in which you identify the subject you wish to discuss, and let them get in contact with you after they have done their homework. But remember that lawyers never have a sense of urgency (except when they want their bill paid), so you may have to wait a while to hear from them.

[Witold Grabiec]

Yes, I agree with all and appreciate the input already. I thought that a sales guy would at least care to give me a contact to Calumet's headquarters, which he did not of course.

Louie, if nothing alse comes my way I will surely try your suggestion. I am still hoping there is a quicker way.

In case someone knows, I'd like to clarify the copyright issue of the Zone VI Newsletter. While there is no copyright notice on any of them, I know of no way to check whether it's been placed in public domain. I'd like to use excerpts on the net from them, but would rather not violate anyones' "rights" to their content. What I do know for sure is that Zone VI sale to Calumet covered ALL Zone VI branded products, including the Newsletter.

[Luca Merlo]

If you are interested to purchaes the Zone Vi newsletter I am redy to sell them to you. In case, let me know.

[Witold Grabiec]

Luca,

I have the whole deal, thanks for the offer though.

[Kerry L. Thalmann]

Witold,

If you just want to quote a short excerpt from one of the Zone VI newsletters for non-profit educational or review purposes, it may fall under the "fair use" (http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html) exception to US copyright law. Of course, it's always best to seek and receive permission to reproduce any copyrighted works, and when in doubt ask an attorney. Also, this may be complicated somewhat by international laws. The copyright owner for the Zone VI newsletters was originally a US entity, but the copyright has been transferred to British ownership through subsequent sales of Zone VI and Calumet. I believe British copyright law also includes a "fair use" exception, but you should verify that your intended use is covered.

Kerry

[Ralph Barker]

According to the Calumet "History" page, the UK company with which it merged was "Keith, Johnson and Pelling, a retail chain in the United Kingdom; Netherlands, Belgium and Germany ".

http://www.calumetphoto.com/ctl?ac.ui.pn=compinfo.CompAboutUs&topic=History

Strangely, it doesn't list the usual sort of HQ or corporate contacts, but you might be able to get that info from their designated press contact:

Press Contact: Brian Cooney
Calumet Photographic
bcooney@calumetphoto.com
(312) 944-2774

[Brian Ellis]

I doubt that anyone here really has enough information to know who owns the rights to "the Zone VI stuff." Among other problems, we don't know whether Calumet acquired the stock of the corporation that owned the Zone VI stuff or whether it acquired the assets of that corporation. If it acquired the assets we don't know whether rights to the newsletter were included in the sale or not. If Calumet (or a parent or a subsidiary of Calumet) acquired stock rather than assets we don't know what happened to the rights to the Zone VI newsletter - maybe Calumet didn't care about rights to the newsletter, in which case those rights (along with any other "unwanted" assets) may have been distributed to the Zone VI stockholders before the stock sale. If Calumet or whatever entity bought the stock wanted the right to the newsletter, what happened to the Zone VI corporate entity after the acquisition of its stock by "Calumet?"

Not knowing exactly what has happened to the newsletter rights and what you plan to do with the newsletter makes it difficult to give any decent advice. FWIW (not much) if you don't know exactly who owns the newsletter rights I'd probably just write a letter to Calumet telling them what you plan to do and saying that you will proceed unless they object or can put you in touch with whoever it is that is in a postion to object. As a general proposition I don't think I'd be overly concerned about copyright issues in this situation. I'm not a copyright lawyer and someone who is can certainly correct me but I have a little trouble seeing what kind of damages could be claimed even if your use arguably violates the copyright laws, given the fact (I think) that the newsletter was discontinued after the sale and given the fact that neither Calumet nor anyone else tried to sell back issues.

[Anthony J. Kohler]

Calumet did sell the back issues for at least a while; I ordered a set somewhere around 2000 from Calumet and got the whole shebang, along with three appropriate binders of dubious quality (splits in the vinyl). I got them through the sales desk, although it took some time to get to someone who could order them for me.

I suspect, from the condition of the binders and the fact that the collection included a couple of duplicates, that it was scraping the bottom of the barrel then.

[Witold Grabiec]

Thanks again guys. I've contacted Andy Simonds, Fred's nephew I believe, who oversees the rest of Fred's work that fell outside of Zone VI branded stuff. He said that newsletters were under Zone VI name and fell under Calumet's jurisdiction at the time they acquired Zone VI as a whole.

I see where Brian is coming from though and Anthony's point is right on - Calumet hardly gave a damn thing about the Zone VI and what it stood for prior to acquisition.

I will be checking with Brian Cooney at Calumet and see where this takes me.

[BrianShaw]

Please keep us informed of any answer you may get from Calumet. I've run into this same problem with "who owns a copyright after a corporate aquisition or bankruptcy" several times. I've assumed the 'fair use' clause and hope/pray that I don't get sued. This is a real problem at times!

[Witold Grabiec]

I have received an email from Calumet Photographic Inc. They are still the owners of the Zone VI branded products, this includes copyrights of all Zone VI newsletters (also the pre-Calumet issues). I've been referred to Calumet's president to address any release-of-permission issues. Thanks to all for responses and especially to Ralph whoes lead helped me find the right contact at the headquarters.

[Raymond H Price]

I have two binders of the news letters. Issue 1. 8.73.1 thru Issue 70, July, 1992. Is this the complete set? I even have a the ricepaper insert from Issue 49 (see attached image). I would like to sell this very close to mint set. Can anyone give me some idea what it is worth?
Thanks in adavance,
Ray

ncr1rhp@comcast.net
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r155/ncr1rhp/DSC01510.jpg

[resummerfield]

.....Issue 1. 8.73.1 thru Issue 70, July, 1992. Is this the complete set? .....I know they went through Issue 79 of September, '94. Does anyone know of a later issue?

[Raymond H Price]

I did a Google search anf found this info. It looks like I need to find a few more.

Fred Picker's last newsletter was #83, dated September 1995. In it, he announced his resignation from Zone VI, which he had earlier sold to Calumet. Calumet continued publishing the newsletters, but they weren't the same. Didn't have the spark that Fred's had.

[John Bowen]

Raymond,

You should be able to determine a fair price by doing an EBay search of Zone VI items then checking completed items. A few years ago, complete sets sold for near $300. Today they sell for much less, often less than $100.

Good luck,

John