Recent Posts Please post your question about Copyright
Elena
Copyright
We've all seen items with copyrights. Sometimes it's obvious, other times it's not so clear. Basically copyrights are a form of protection for things like writings, photos, songs and other original works. You do not have to register your work anywhere for it to be protected by copyright. It's technically protected the moment it's printed. However if you register your work you have the means to pursue damages if someone should infringe on your copyright. Some people opt to do something called 'the poor man's copyright' which is done simply by sending a copy of the work to ones self.
Recently there was a case of copyright infringement in which the owner of the copyright did not win his case. The photographer who took a portrait of the youngest victim of the 2011 Tucson shooting. Jon Wolf was the photographer of a portrait of little Christina Taylor Green shortly before the day of the shooting. After the tragedy, Mr. Wolf wasted no time in having the photograph registered with the US Copyright office and then attempted to sue multiple media outlets for showing the picture. There was a huge outcry from the public and the victims family and Mr. Wolf failed in his attempts to capitalize on this tragedy. But generally speaking, legitimate copyrights are protected by the registration.
It's not difficult to register your copyright. It can be done on the Internet. The United States Copyright Office has a website that includes information about copyrights, searches for copyright records, publications, preregistration, how to record a document, laws and policies. You can perform recordation of transfers and other documents by Internet, telephone or regular mail using forms available on line. The website includes instructions on how to calculate the fees involved with recording a document.
