You are correct to have doubt. While it is criminally illegal to falsely claim copyright, there is almost no chance of prosecution. And the only entity able to

You are correct to have doubt. While it is criminally illegal to falsely claim copyright, there is almost no chance of prosecution. And the only entity able to sue under civil law would be the heirs of the photographer, who are unlikely to know that they hold the copyright. The public, while potentially deprived of the the ability to make use of the work, is not deemed to "have standing". The seminal paper on the topic calls this "copyfraud": Copyfraud Jason Mazzone, University of Illinois College of Law Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 40 New York University Law Review, Vol. 81, p. 1026, 2006 Abstract: Copyfraud is everywhere. False copyright notices appear on modern reprints of Shakespeare's plays, Beethoven's piano scores, greeting card versions of Monet's Water Lilies, and even the U.S. Constitution. Archives claim blanket copyright in everything in their collections. Vendors of microfilmed versions of historical newspapers assert copyright ownership. These false copyright claims, which are often accompanied by threatened litigation for reproducing a work without the owner's permission, result in users seeking licenses and paying fees to reproduce works that are free for everyone to use. Copyright law itself creates strong incentives for copyfraud. The Copyright Act provides for no civil penalty for falsely claiming ownership of public domain materials. There is also no remedy under the Act for individuals who wrongly refrain from legal copying or who make payment for permission to copy something they are in fact entitled to use for free. While falsely claiming copyright is technically a criminal offense under the Act, prosecutions are extremely rare. These circumstances have produced fraud on an untold scale, with millions of works in the public domain deemed copyrighted, and countless dollars paid out every year in licensing fees to make copies that could be made for free. Copyfraud stifles valid forms of reproduction and undermines free speech. Congress should amend the Copyright Act to allow private parties to bring civil causes of action for false copyright claims. Courts should extend the availability of the copyright misuse defense to prevent copyright owners from enforcing an otherwise valid copyright if they have engaged in past copyfraud. In addition, Congress should further protect the public domain by creating a national registry listing public domain works and a symbol to designate those works. Failing a congressional response, there may exist remedies under state law and through the efforts of private parties to achieve these ends. http://ssrn.com/abstract=787244 http://ssrn.com/abstract=787244