I've recently had several suggestions that I sell some of my best photos as prints, and so I'm considering doing so. I am an amateur and do not plan on making this a living or anything, but I would like to protect my images, too -- never know what might come down the road.

What must be done to copyright pictures? Please don't feel any detail is too basic, as I have no knowledge of this at all.

Thanks in advance!

You have to register your images with the US govt, thru the copyright office.

Go to http://www.copyright.gov/ for more info and the proper forms.

There's a nice little article right here on FM under the articles tab on the main page.
http://www.fredmiranda.com/A15/

Be sure to check out the link at the very end of it.

One thing to make sure you know, your work is already copyrighted, you need to register it to be able to legally defend it to the max.

Cool, thank you guys! I'll get on it today.

DarrenS wrote:
You have to register your images with the US govt, thru the copyright office.

Go to http://www.copyright.gov/ for more info and the proper forms.

Copyright "exists" from the time an original work is created. You do not have to register a copyright with the Government, you only have to place a copyright notice on your work to inform others that it is an original copyrighted work.

Registering with the Government is an option that may allow you to more easily defend your copyright if you ever have to. However as an amateur, it is unlikely that you would ever go to the time and expense of defending your copyright in court. If some other business uses your image without authorization, simply calling their legal department and informing them that they are misusing copyrighted material may be enough. If private individuals start copying it and distributing it, are you really going to know, are you really going to pursue it, is it going to impact your livelyhood?

If your stuff is placed on a website, you may consider a service such as digimarc to help protect it. Perhaps others here can comment on the value of services like that.

Chris_Platt wrote:
Copyright "exists" from the time an original work is created. You do not have to register a copyright with the Government, you only have to place a copyright notice on your work to inform others that it is an original copyrighted work.


You do not have to place a copyright notice on your work either. This requirement was eliminated when the United States adhered to the Berne Convention, effective March 1, 1989.

It is always a good idea to register your images with the US copyright office. It is not a difficult procedure and can be done online. It costs $35.00 to register a batch of images. I just went through the procedure to register 67 images posted on my website. You can even upload the images to be registered online.

You have 90 days from the date of publication to register your images. A judge will not hear a copyright violation case without a registration and the copyright office may take up to 4 months to process your copyright registration request.

jerryrock, I wonder if there is some level of "provisional" protection in the event that an infringement occurs in betwen the time you file and the time when your request becomes approved? That would be interesting from a legal standpoint.

http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com/2007/09/walk-through-copyright-office.html

A copyright registration is considered valid from the point the copyright office receives the application and files or prints (in the case of photographs) if it gets accepted.

Edited by Ryan Britton on Jul 30, 2008 at 03:06 PM GMT

FYI, jerryRock, Ryan and mdude85. I point out the relevant statutes so you can go read them yourselves and reach your own conclusions.

Ryan a copyright registration is not assumed valid. It gets reviewed. And either accepted or rejected.

The file date will be the effective date of registration ASSUMING your application is accepted.

The relevant section of the Copyright Act is 410(d) (I added the caps for emphasis on the point of distinction):

"The effective date of a copyright registration is the day on which an application, deposit, and fee, WHICH ARE LATER DETERMINED BY THE REGISTRAR OF COPYRIGHTS OR BY A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION TO BE ACCEPTABLE FOR REGISTRATION, have all been received in the Copyright Office."

So mdude85 is OK assuming his registration is acceptable.

To JerryRock, last I checked it was $45 but, in any event, you have three months (not 90 days) to register if you want seek statutory damages and attorneys fees. See Section 412. While a notice of copyright is not required there are reasons to do it (but if you do it, use the required form). Here are two you might consider:

(1) See Section 401(d) (it may preclude a defense of "innocent infringement" to a claim for statutory damages for willfull infringement)

(2) See Section 1201(b) (a separate cause of action for removal of "copyright management information" which includes a copyright notice and potential for 1203(c)(3) statutory damages).

TT1000 wrote:
To JerryRock, last I checked it was $45 but, in any event, you have three months (not 90 days) to register if you want seek statutory damages and attorneys fees.

Have you ever registered a copyright? Would you like to see my receipt for $35.00?

Last time I checked three months = 90 days.

Electronic filing is being encouraged by charging $10 less.

If the last time you checked three months = 90 days then consider the calculation of the grace period when the relevant months don't have 30 days.

PS, the THREE MONTH grace period is only for published works not for unpublished works. Feel free to work out the distinction yourself by reference to "the last time you checked what published meant".

registered a group of images today - $35

asmp.org is also a great resource for copyright info (and all things business!)

Jerryrock, I forgot to mention that this is incorrect as well.

"You have 90 days from the date of publication to register your images."

Apart from the mistake about 90 days and the failure to distinguish between published and unpublished works, the statement only applies to section 504 (statutory damages) and 504 (attorney fees) remedies.

You can register at anytime the work is still subject to copyright protection (See section 408(a)) and seek other relief: injunctive relief (Section 502) or actual damages and profits (Section 502(b)).

Though early is better than later because of the processing time you mentioned (which is conservative. It can take longer than 4 months). If you need to speed up the process it can get expensive.

See under "special services" for an idea of the additional cost.

http://www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html

Dear TT1000,

I give advice from my personal experience. Since you never answered my question about your experience with copyright I assume you have none.

Endlessly quoting and misinterpreting copyright law helps no one.

Please move on.

Registering with the Government is an option that may allow you to more easily defend your copyright if you ever have to. However as an amateur, it is unlikely that you would ever go to the time and expense of defending your copyright in court. If some other business uses your image without authorization, simply calling their legal department and informing them that they are misusing copyrighted material may be enough.

With more and more use of amateur work in microstocks and solicitation of amateur work by standard news agencies, the likelihood of an avid amateur's work being infringed is far greater than it has ever been.

Those infringers will not be intimindated by a letter, and no judge is going to grant a court hearing without copyright registration.

"The effective date of a copyright registration is the day on which an application, deposit, and fee, WHICH ARE LATER DETERMINED BY THE REGISTRAR OF COPYRIGHTS OR BY A COURT OF COMPETENT JURISDICTION TO BE ACCEPTABLE FOR REGISTRATION, have all been received in the Copyright Office."

The simple presumptions are that the registree followed the straightforward instructions for registration and that he is, indeed, the owner of the copyright. With that, the un-emphasized portions of your quote are in force.

I doubt you will find a single professional commercial photographer or a single copyright lawyer--or any lawyer who has fought copyright in court--who would tell anyone that registering copyright is not worth it.

Especially when it can be done at a fraction of a cent per image.

Oh boy. I see I'm about to enter legal Alice in Wonderland.
I'll leave this post with the usual warning. Please don't come online for serious legal information. People untrained talk out of their a##.
You've been warned.

TT1000 wrote:
Oh boy. I see I'm about to enter legal Alice in Wonderland.
I'll leave this post with the usual warning. Please don't come online for serious legal information. People untrained talk out of their a##.
You've been warned.

Like you, you mean.


If anyone wants to hear a real, heavily experienced copyright lawyer's opinion, check Ed Greenberg:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4czzNOPbJWk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGZ_pJQ-_EU

is it better to send in a CD with the images on there or to do it online?

it seems that doing it online might be a pain if you have thousands of images since you have to do them one by one?