when to registers photos for copyright.

I'm well aware that you can copyright a photo by putting a small jpg version of the photos you want to be registered on a DVD, which will allow a crap ton of pictures to be registered with one fee.

BUT!

How do you guys actually go about doing this in terms of protecting your images. Lets say I shoot an event, but I dont take enough pictures to fill a DVD with... do I wait till I get enough images, or just bite the bullet and send out cd's to get registered after each event? Cuz IMO it would be easier to send one off every year or 6 months.

Depends on how strict you want to be about it. Remember you can also upload photos online instead.

I've registered a batch of around a dozen images to protect myself against litigation. I'm planning on registering another several dozen for the same reason.

I'm not selling any of my photos commercially, and not doing anything except publishing them personally. I plan on just registering a batch of images for every year (though I need to cull them first!).

TheBurningCrown wrote in post #12970360
Depends on how strict you want to be about it. Remember you can also upload photos online instead.

I've registered a batch of around a dozen images to protect myself against litigation. I'm planning on registering another several dozen for the same reason.

I'm not selling any of my photos commercially, and not doing anything except publishing them personally. I plan on just registering a batch of images for every year (though I need to cull them first!).

yeah I forgot that there was an online upload option, but still... I want to protect my images, but to pay that fee each event can rack up since I'm not really to the point where I'm selling my images.

I just didn't know how everyone else handles it. I just don't want to get in any sticky situations like some people on here. I just didn't know if there was some way to copyright the pictures @ a later date than the photographed date and still get rights.

For example, If I shot some pics at an event tomorrow, saved them on my hard drive, shot more events till the end of the year... then on jan 1 2012, sent the DVD of all my pictures from 2011 to the copyright registry.

Will that protect my images if someone used them before I got them copyrighted, will I still have the ability to get my compensation?

Jonathan12uiz wrote in post #12970402
I just didn't know how everyone else handles it. I just don't want to get in any sticky situations like some people on here. I just didn't know if there was some way to copyright the pictures @ a later date than the photographed date and still get rights
....
Will that protect my images if someone used them before I got them copyrighted, will I still have the ability to get my compensation?

Well first: copyright exists at the moment of creation. Everything you've ever shot has a copyright associated with it. Registering simply means that the government officially recognizes that it's yours. You can register your images with the US Copyright Office at any point in the future, it doesn't matter when.

I believe there is a statue of limitations for 90 days for registering your images in order to receive specific damages. That is - you have 90 days from the infringement of your copyright to register the images if you wish to sue and collect specific damages. So if you run into a sticky situation, you can register your images ASAP and still be fine.

I hope that helps.

TheBurningCrown wrote in post #12970670
Well first: copyright exists at the moment of creation. Everything you've ever shot has a copyright associated with it. Registering simply means that the government officially recognizes that it's yours. You can register your images with the US Copyright Office at any point in the future, it doesn't matter when.

I believe there is a statue of limitations for 90 days for registering your images in order to receive specific damages. That is - you have 90 days from the infringement of your copyright to register the images if you wish to sue and collect specific damages. So if you run into a sticky situation, you can register your images ASAP and still be fine.

I hope that helps.

thanks man!

I believe it's 3 months from publication, not 3 months from infringement. You should be registered before infringement. So your best bet is to register your photos in 3 month batches (every 3 months), or before publication (in case your photo gets stolen within the 3 month period before you had time to register it). What Qualifies as "publication" gets tricky, so you're best to just assume that if you'll be posting the photo all over the Internet, make sure it's registered first.

Shelly1204 wrote in post #12971777
I believe it's 3 months from publication, not 3 months from infringement. You should be registered before infringement. So your best bet is to register your photos in 3 month batches (every 3 months), or before publication (in case your photo gets stolen within the 3 month period before you had time to register it). What Qualifies as "publication" gets tricky, so you're best to just assume that if you'll be posting the photo all over the Internet, make sure it's registered first.

thanks for the clarification. I know the images that I'm not posting on the net can wait for copyright registration since there is no other way to steal the image except for hacking my hard drives.

But I guess since it's a 3 month period, I can copyright them in increments.

Shelly1204 wrote in post #12971777
I believe it's 3 months from publication, not 3 months from infringement.

Do you have a source on that? I'm not challenging you, I'm just curious. You don't need to register an image 3 months after publication, you can register it at any point in the future. The 3 month limit is simply in regards to obtaining specific damages - so I assumed that infringement makes more sense than publication.

I register my event photos once a year. Batch them all into zip files (each zip file has to be under 170MB) and upload them. I'm presuming this will be adequate if I run into legal issues, but frankly I haven't tested it. The copyright office seems happy to take my money and send me the official paperwork.

Dave

Hopefully this link will clear the confusion.

http://asmp.org …s/copyright-overview.html

TheBurningCrown wrote in post #12972892
Do you have a source on that? I'm not challenging you, I'm just curious. You don't need to register an image 3 months after publication, you can register it at any point in the future. The 3 month limit is simply in regards to obtaining specific damages - so I assumed that infringement makes more sense than publication.

No problem. Here's a good place to start:

http://www.longislandl​awyerblog.com …ng-stolen-on-the-internet

thanks for the info guys... looks like I'll do it about every 3 months.