Regarding; Copyrights (©)

Shrike · #1 02-03-2010, 06:09 PM

I am inexperienced in the area of copyrighting my work, which is why I started this thread. I have not done anything expressly requiring a copyright, but I have started to sell my work as of late and would like to know more. I know that (or am pretty sure of...);

1. You have the copyright once you've taken the pic, until your dead, + 70 Years.
But I heard somewhere you have to register for a copyright with the copyright office in D.C. ($30) to have any pull in court against plagiarists (not likely someones gonna rip me off yet, but I still wanna know for future reference)

2. umm....

So thats about all I know. I would like to know what other people know, so that I can know, and let other people who I know, know.

**JustinL** · #2 02-03-2010, 08:24 PM

I'll tell you right now, you WILL be ripped off if you post pics on the internet -period. It's just a matter of finding your pic as it's being used without you knowing. I know Zacker on here has a story of one of his images being used.

As for the ©opyrighting itself: http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

And a useful 12 page PDF doc here: http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.pdf

I hope this helps! And you're thinking in the right direction!

Shrike · #3 02-04-2010, 08:22 AM

Cool, thanks for the info. I know that I know way to little about this, and that a lot of people I know don't know as much as they should know (make sense?)... I'm going to email this info to some people. Thanks alot, that one site (http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/) is excellent.

Shrike · #4 02-05-2010, 02:48 PM

Hey nother question.... I can't seem to find whether you need to pay for each photo you copyright and so far as i figure 30 bucks per photo is pretty steep.

Moon-willow · #5 02-05-2010, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrike

Hey nother question.... I can't seem to find whether you need to pay for each photo you copyright and so far as i figure 30 bucks per photo is pretty steep.

it is $35.00 each per registration. You are not paying to copyright your image, but you are paying to register the copyrighted image with the Library of Congress.

Do I have to register with your office to be protected?
No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.”

hope this helps

Shrike · #6 02-05-2010, 04:18 PM

So if I want to register 10 pics it's $350?

**JustinL** · #7 02-05-2010, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrike

So if I want to register 10 pics it's $350?

I can't find where it's written on their site, but if you're submitting work from a disk, you can squeeze a lot more than 10 images on a disk

**stoneylonesome** · #8 02-05-2010, 08:34 PM

I believe the cost is per DVD not each photo, so wether you put 1 or 700 photos on a DVD it's $35 ($45).

According to this the fee is $45 but does say You may register a multitude of works under one registration fee. To get your money's worth and speed up your filing process, include as many digital photos as you can onto a single CD or DVD. You are not required to include high-resolution images, as long as your photos could be clearly identified and compared with a "violation"; photo dimension ranging between 250 to 300 pixels should suffice.

http://www.weddingphotographydirecto...rotection.aspx

some more links to check
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...5200109AAiJKMr

http://askville.amazon.com/Copyright...uestId=3738687

Shrike · #9 02-05-2010, 04:21 PM

Boy... that sure isn't very economical...

silksatsunrise · #10 02-06-2010, 09:49 AM

Before wasting your money, you must remember that the copyright is ONLY good in the US. Most thefts are done in countries that have no copyright laws and do no inforcement of the rights of the owner. Some points:

1.) If your photography is good enough that (someone would purchase it as stock or buy prints) then let an agency sell it and be resonsible for protecting your rights.
2.) If posting on the internet use only file sizes that if stolen are barely good enough to print a 4x6.
3.) When posting on the internet add a small Copyright logo on th3e image to make the theif have to do work to use the image.

Your photos are bound to be used without your knowledge if you post then enough. It's just part of the new Digital age.

Dennis
Been there, Done that!