Copyright question??

Ok....I think I'm searching the wrong area of the USCopyright office site b/c all I can find is how to copyright 1 photo/piece of work at a time. Does anyone know anything about how to register your WHOLE body of work that you've ever done and ever will do? Does that make sense?

You can register a body of work on a cd. Each cd costs $45 to register.

Is this the link that you are looking for. It explains the process and from the looks of this page you can definitely register more than one. You have to follow some of the further links.

ou only have to register a copyright if you expect problems. You automatically own the copyright to your work (as far as I understand it).

Phil V wrote in post #2191714
ou only have to register a copyright if you expect problems. You automatically own the copyright to your work (as far as I understand it).

You automatically own the copyright to any work you do.

If you wish to prove that you own the copyright in court, you better have registered.

In general, it's a good idea to register all work that you intend on having released to the public, just in case. And since you needn't use high-res images on the CD, it isn't really that hard to send out weekly, monthly, or quarterly discs, depending on how much business you do.

Many pros that run short turnarounds for release will drop a CD in the mail to the office on the day of the shoot. the unprocessed images from the shoot are fine for copyrighting the final work you output to the client or for release.

However, it is safest to assume you will eventually run into trouble, and register any copyrights you have published or available for download by the public.

Bruce

staereo wrote in post #2191793
You automatically own the copyright to any work you do.

If you wish to prove that you own the copyright in court, you better have registered.

In general, it's a good idea to register all work that you intend on having released to the public, just in case. And since you needn't use high-res images on the CD, it isn't really that hard to send out weekly, monthly, or quarterly discs, depending on how much business you do.

Many pros that run short turnarounds for release will drop a CD in the mail to the office on the day of the shoot. the unprocessed images from the shoot are fine for copyrighting the final work you output to the client or for release.

However, it is safest to assume you will eventually run into trouble, and register any copyrights you have published or available for download by the public.

Bruce

Thanks Bruce!! That's very helpful. So, if I'm to be a Wedding/portrait photographer and I'm not selling images to magazines and such, do you forsee an urgent need to copyright or is it just to be safe?

I'm going to have to get a film scanner I think to scan in all my older works....$45.00 per CD isn't too bad. I was worried that it would be $45.00 per image

Thanks for all the advice. This really clears everything up....

E3_Photo_Studio wrote in post #2193699
Thanks Bruce!! That's very helpful. So, if I'm to be a Wedding/portrait photographer and I'm not selling images to magazines and such, do you forsee an urgent need to copyright or is it just to be safe?

Not a problem. As far as forseeing a problem, I guess the question is whether or not you plan to pursue clients who choose to violate your copyright.
OR, if you would be upset to find your image in a wedding magazine from some wedding you shot. Couples may send in your photograph to a magazine to have it published.

Other dependants have to do with the medium you are working with. If you are only giving them prints, it may work out better for you to just stamp the back with a copyright line. I have a stamp made for my high volume, low circulation images. Primarily for me, that is sports photography of which I do very little.
My stamp serves 2 purposes.
1) it keeps reputable shops from reproducing an image for a client. No reputable printer will take an image with a copyright line on it and run it through their printers. In fact, if they got caught doing it, they could be in trouble. Not that I keep tabs on those images, but it acts as more of an impedance than an applied legal standing.

2) It has all of my contact information on it. My name, address, phone number, email address, website address. So, if the client wants reprints, or would like my services in the future, they know where to find it. Often when families show off their prints, people turn at least one picture out of a pile over to see the back, for some silly reason. Same as greeting cards. This also means that I get a little exposure off of the images as well. It is all done in font that matches my logo, and I think between the custom stamp making, a stamp pad, and archival ink for the stamp, I spent about $26.00. Not too shabby, eh?

If you offer digital negatives, or high res images, then copyrighting should be a priority. I don't ever give my high res images or digital negatives out, unless I am paid as such. Certainly never to small clients like this. If you DO end up writing a package up that includes digital negatives/raws, I would strongly suggest writing into that price, the 45 bucks to register those images. Just pass the cost on to your client. Again, I don't give raw out at all, but I do know that some do, and if I ever had to myself, I would have those on their way to the copyright office before my client ever got the images themself. Theres just no control over the digital side of photography, so best to stay protected.

In print only, you could probably get away with just doing the stamp idea. You would want to still maybe send in a cd with all of your weddings from a given quarter, 6 mo, or year period. It would just be far less critical that you get it out there, in contrast to if you sold your digital images.

I hope this helps,
Bruce

That is very helpful Bruce, Thank you very much! I purchased a stamp about 6 months ago, but didn't have the right ink in it....needless to say the ink smeared all over the place. UGH. That was a total waste.

I'm not going to be dealing the prints out myself, but I will be having shutterfly do that for me. My clients will be able to view their proofs online via Shutterfly and order online. I'll have to look into the copyright protection on their site more....maybe they print on the back of the images my logo or something?? Something to look into I guess.

I do offer a negative release, but for a pretty steep price. I figure if they don't want to pay for my prices that's fine, but they'll need to pay a pretty penny for my digital negs. I guess I'll have to see how it all plays out over the next few months. Prices and plans can always change.
Thanks for all the advice!!