English: No permission is required for the following reasons:
United Press International (UPI) typically did not register copyrights or publish their photos with proper notices. Consequently, the majority of UPI photos, particularly those taken before March 1, 1989, are likely in the public domain.
According to specialists in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress; "In an attempt to determine if UPI registered any copyrights and if those copyrights were renewed, Specialists in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress searched the Copyright Office files. It was found that only a few images were registered for copyright and those copyrights were not renewed."[1]
Getty Images / Bettmann Archive does not usually hold the copyright to images donated to the collection, nor does it have copyright filings nor a copyright notice on any of their work before 1978. Getty does not hold the copyright to most, if any of their photos, a statement backed up by numerous lawsuits and court rulings.
This work is in the public domain because it was published in the United States between 1978 and March 1, 1989 without a copyright notice, and its copyright was not subsequently registered with the U.S. Copyright Office within 5 years.
Unless its author has been dead for several years, it is copyrighted in the countries or areas that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works, such as Canada (70 pma), Mainland China (50 pma, not Hong Kong or Macau), Germany (70 pma), Mexico (100 pma), Switzerland (70 pma), and other countries with individual treaties. See this page for further explanation.