John Rogers, the North Little Rock photo archivist who owns more than 200 million photos, has agreed to buy thousands of pictures from dozens of New Zealand newspapers, but some Kiwis are questioning the legality of the transaction.
Rogers recently agreed to purchase rights to about 40 million photographs and negatives from 78 newspapers in New Zealand and Australia, he said Friday in a telephone interview from Hawaii. The images belong to Fairfax Media, the leading media company in the two countries.
In New Zealand, the 40-year-old Rogers recently acquired the photo archives of papers including the Auckland Star, Evening Post, the Dominion, Nelson Mail, The Sunday Star-Times and Sunday News, according to an article this week in The New Zealand Herald.
Rogers will own the original prints and negatives and share commercial rights, the article said.
The New Zealand Herald said that under the Protected Objects Act - formerly known as the Antiquities Act - anyone planning to export treasured items, including collections of photographs more than 50 years old, must get a license from a government agency.
David Butts, manager of heritage operations for New Zealand’s Ministry of Culture and Heritage told The New Zealand Herald he would be “drawing the provisions of the act to Fairfax’s attention.”
Fairfax’s editor-in-chief told the New Zealand paper he and his attorneys were unaware of the law.
“This is just something that popped up in the 11th hour,” Rogers said.
Like his other acquisitions, Rogers will preserve all of the photos and negatives in digital archives and retain the originals, some of which he may sell or lease. He returns the digitized photographs to the newspapers at no cost.
Rogers said he could not discuss details of the New Zealand deal.
“Our attorneys are working everything out with the Fairfax attorneys and the New Zealand government,” Rogers said. “I have full confidence that we’ll have the New Zealand papers’ pictures as well in the next few days.”
The closest comparison in U.S. law is the American Antiquities Act of 1906, said David Pieper, a Fayetteville attorney who works in intellectual property law. That law allows the president to declare “by public proclamation” that certain structures or objects of historic or scientific interest on government properties become national monuments.
Rogers’ business, Rogers Photo Archive, had revenue of about $8 million in 2010 and $10 million in 2011, he said in a 2011 article. He declined on Friday to disclose what his company’s revenue was in 2012.
Rogers was a longtime collector of sports memorabilia, spending $1.6 million in 2008 to buy a rare 1909 Honus Wagner baseball card. In 2009, he began collecting photo archives and now owns archives of the Detroit News. He also owns photos and negatives from the Detroit Free Press, the Chicago Sun Times, Chicago Daily News, Denver Post, Sporting News, Sport Magazine, Boston Herald and Seattle Times.
Rogers is still acquiring photo archives in the United States and recently acquired photos and negatives from the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
Business, Pages 29 on 05/11/2013