How do you copyright your images?

[crystal]

Ok as there is a copyright section here I would like to ask...
There seems to be a fair few creative ones among us.
Say one graphic designer produces an image or a photo. How does one copyright and own the rights of it? Is the sending and dating to oneself by registered post still the way to go? Many thanks.

[Melchor]

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is a UN treaty body that deals with IP issues. Here's a link to Copyrights FAQs to answer some of your preliminary questions. Hope this helps.

http://www.wipo.int/copyright/en/faq/faqs.htm#P81_9657

[Umbrellaman]

(12-11-2010 11:41 PM)crystal Wrote:  Ok as there is a copyright section here I would like to ask...
There seems to be a fair few creative ones among us.
Say one graphic designer produces an image or a photo. How does one copyright and own the rights of it? Is the sending and dating to oneself by registered post still the way to go? Many thanks.

Hello crystal,

I these days of fast computers and sophisticated Graphics Software, even embedded watermarks and the like may be removed by others.

The best way to protect your intellectual property, is to Trademark it worldwide.

That's an expensive process, and you may need lots of money to pay good lawyers to actually enforce it.

For most individuals the above is far too costly and time consuming, as I'm sure you would realize.

The thing to remember with any graphics or intellectual property, is that once it has been displayed in the public arena for some time, it is deemed to be free for public access, and anyone may copy and/or modify such graphic free of charge.

You would then have to know the individual who used the graphic, know from where they copied it, establish the value of damages to yourself, pay lawyers in the country in which that person lives etc., all the time trusting that the miscreant would be able to pay you any damages that a Court awarded.

That's why large Companies have armies of expensive lawyers ready to unleash on others who use their Trademarks.

Of course, if you place your graphic on the Internet, it is deemed to be published publicly, and once Mr. Google's fine search engine has paid that graphic a visit, you have effectively lost ownership, unless you have deep pockets and good lawyers.

I trust that has not deterred you from making some fine graphics.

Note:
The digital watermarking of a graphic does deter many copiers from using the picture - it's just too much bother to remove that watermark, unless they are very determined.

Kind Regards.

Umbrellaman

[crystal]

Oh dear

'Of course, if you place your graphic on the Internet, it is deemed to be published publicly, and once Mr. Google's fine search engine has paid that graphic a visit, you have effectively lost ownership,'

Stupid internet.

You seem to know about these things. What about if I use black and white images from a photo from a seemingly rare book and then deface and manipulate it a bit and paint over it. When it comes to sellling this new image, that is almost unrecognisable , do I need to thank or mention the photographer and publication or hope that noone will notice?
Thanks in adv.

[linv5800]

Sounds like you want to steal someone's image then
manipulate it and call it your own . For shame , for shame , for shame !
However , look into it , the photo your " manipulating " may just be Public domain .
Depends on the age of the photo .

[linv5800]

EDIT -
For some reason , everytime i post a reply ,
it posts it twice . Im , once again , sorry .
I will CAREFULLY , besides spelling , watch what im doing on
my next post to see if it's something im doing .

[Plutus]

The following applies in New Zealand and may be of use to you.
Photographs are automatically protected by copyright when the photos are taken. There is no need to register copyright or go through any process for your work to be protected by copyright. In New Zealand, photos are protected as “artistic works” under the Copyright Act 1994.It is not usually necessary for a photograph to possess artistic quality or have
aesthetic value to be protected as an artistic work. To attract copyright protection, a work must be ‘original’ in the sense that it originates from the author (creator) and is not copied. It must be a product of the author exercising independent skill and labour. Copyright does not protect ideas, information, styles or techniques used in creating an artistic work − copyright protects the work itself.
Ownership of copyright in photographs.
The person who takes a photo is generally the first owner of copyright in the material.
However, there are some exceptions under the Copyright Act:

• Employees − If you have taken a photograph in the course of your employment,
your employer is the first owner of copyright, unless there is agreement to the
contrary.

• Commissioned material − If another person has commissioned and pays or
agrees to pay you to take a photograph, that person is the first owner of copyright
unless there is agreement to the contrary.
Although there is no requirement for the commissioning agreement to be written
down, it is sensible to put it in writing to avoid confusion and disputes in the
future.

Copyright Council of New Zealand http://www.copyright.org.nz

[crystal]

Haha, No i dont want to steal. I give old photographs new life. Technology might get better but photographs and the eyes of people dont seem to get better in my opinion. We call them collages at school.

[Bind]

You have a copyright at the moment you created your image. It is not necessary to go beyond that in the eyes of the law. It is your intellectual property at the moment it is created. Please do not confuse intellectual property copyrights with patents (protecting an idea or way to do something that is unique).

Other than watermarking, you have 2 alternatives to protect that image.

1. Do not distribute it (or place it online).
2. Be prepared to defend your copyright. In a court of law if necessary.

All other methods of pseudo-protection may be deemed invasive and irritating to your subscriber base or visitors, which often lead to people not returning to your web site. (with the possible exception of a javascript empty image overlay).

That said, if you are creating a derivative works out of someones elses' intellectual property by giving and old photo new life, I do not believe you retain any rights to that work unless you have negotiated those rights with the original copyright owner.

[yeti]

(12-11-2010 11:41 PM)crystal Wrote:  Ok as there is a copyright section here I would like to ask...
There seems to be a fair few creative ones among us.
Say one graphic designer produces an image or a photo. How does one copyright and own the rights of it? Is the sending and dating to oneself by registered post still the way to go?

Nah... I just pee on it.

[pax681]

(01-08-2011 12:36 PM)crystal Wrote:  Oh dear

'Of course, if you place your graphic on the Internet, it is deemed to be published publicly, and once Mr. Google's fine search engine has paid that graphic a visit, you have effectively lost ownership,'

Stupid internet.

You seem to know about these things. What about if I use black and white images from a photo from a seemingly rare book and then deface and manipulate it a bit and paint over it. When it comes to sellling this new image, that is almost unrecognisable , do I need to thank or mention the photographer and publication or hope that noone will notice?
Thanks in adv.

then it would come under "derivative work" and you'd owe a % of yer profit to the original artist as i recall.

[rsol]

I think it would depend on the original copyright of the image. it may be considered public domain