Comments on: How to Add a Copyright Notice to Your Photos

By: Sri Lanka Cricket Guru

Sri Lanka Cricket Guru — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 08:25:11 +0000

Thank you for this valuable information share. This is useful to protect our hard works.

By: Jim

Jim — Tue, 03 May 2011 06:15:09 +0000

Thanks for this Jeff. I'm basically a beginner at freelancing but definitely want to copyright my material. Problem is I can't seem to find information (even on the Canadian copyright website) that indicates how I go about getting my photos to the copyright office for registration purposes.

What are the steps? Do I send them a CD/DVD with the registration form?

I've just started reading your NEW Joy of Digital photography! Lots of interesting details. Good read!!

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 09:26:23 +0000

What happens where items photographs etc are in the public domain, those that may come from magazines, peoples collections and are uploaded to the net for the general audience of the internet's pleasure.Surely it is an offence to down load copy and sell these items, they belong to someone somewhere. Ebay and the like are often an easy selling outlet for these items where sellers masquerade as something they are not, and make a fortune in the process.

By: Nicole

Nicole — Sun, 03 Oct 2010 23:29:45 +0000

Thanks so much for the insight! I wasn't sure if I was allowed to just throw my copyright symbol and name on my pictures, or if that was somehow "faking" the copyright to my images. Thanks for the tips!!

By: Alex

Alex — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:00:29 +0000

When I don't want to spoil a photo with a watermark I usually mark it with an invisible signature. More details at http://ff.im/3Rdf0

By: Karl Johnston

Karl Johnston — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:12:47 +0000

Hi Jeff,

Excellent article. I don't watermark my images but have all of them registered with the copyright office of Canada that I sell in print or display on my website.

I find the general consensus is that buyers prefer not to see watermarks as it spoils their viewing experience. It's also a rule of mine to not upload an image of more than 70 dpi at no more than 1000 pixels wide/high; this severely makes it impossible for someone to reprint my images in any quality worth selling (I sure as heck wouldn't sell something of that quality).

If I can't print it and my commercial printing lab can't..then I doubt johnny freebie can on his deskjet.

Digital watermarking is another thing to explore, I think it's available in photoshop though I don't use photoshop. I think there's information all over that for the web, though, if you shop around for info you're sure to find a lot of techniques to deter thieves.

Thanks for the article,

Karl

By: Jeff Wignall

Jeff Wignall — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:48:21 +0000

Tony, I agree with your point that registration is the more important issue and I think that making it a habit to regularly copyright your best images is, of course, the best legal protection. I did leave out one other point that I should have made in the story, though: a lot of people don't know that it's illegal to take photos off of the web. Strange, but true. A co-worker of a friend of mine, for example, was regularly downloading images from the web to use in their company's e-newsletters. It wasn't until someone she worked with asked where she was getting the photos that she found out it wasn't legal. A lot of people who used to use clip art back in the print days and who aren't particularly knowledgeable about the digital world think of the web as pure clip art. I don't know if the copyright symbol slows them down or not, but hopefully it educates them a bit.But your point still stands: registration is the ultimate defense.jeff

By: Jackie Jacobson

Jackie Jacobson — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:56:59 +0000

This is just great. Thank you so much for the information. I now know more than I did before I read this blog and I really appreciate the information. It's the "collected works" info that was extremely helpfu. Thanks again.

By: Tony Blei

Tony Blei — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:20:05 +0000

Personally, for my work, I don't apply a copyright watermark. My reasons are for myself and in no manner a suggestion that you shouldn't.

Last month I discovered one of my images had been stolen. It had been part of a Flash slideshow and the thief went as far as doing a screen grab. They then posted the image on a Web site.

The image was registered with the copyright office and when I caught up with the thief, I explained that it was about to rain fire down upon them. The person removed the image and wrote a confession and apology on my blog.

People are going to steal your images. Having a watermark may help keep a few honest people honest, but solid plan, which includes copyright registration, is a better tool to recovering damages when someone decides to steal your property.