photobucket

Does this "unpublished collection" apply to any works you feel like? What about works that

are created after the date you filed for the copyright? What about works created before?

 

That could be a really useful thing...I'd love to know more about it. Or if you know of a site

that describes the concept in greater detail, that would be awesome too.

Doug, fairly regularly I'm being alerted to my photos being used illegally. My take on the situation, which may be totally wrong, is that we have a whole generation of computer users that think all material, whether it's software, music, or art, should be open source. These people simply think that copyright laws don't apply to them and I don't have the time or the resources to go after them legally. For this reason, I no longer post images that I plan to sell as stock photography on the internet.

You can take legal action even before registering copyrights but you don't get access to Federal courts or statutory damages.

 

Photobucket is neither bad or evil, also they owned by Myspace now which is owned by Fox which is in turn owned by News Corp. You will have almost no chance in fighting them in court. Okay maybe they are evil.

 

So you will have to sue for actual damages which in this case may amount to couple of dollars or maybe 10 cents.

 

It doesn't matter anyways, if people like your picture they will just link it to the photo.net. Lesson is, don't post stuff online if you don't want it shared.

Doug, best thing to do is set up your own account on Photobucket and post a higher res copy of the same image there, with your name on the bottom of it. Also set up your own web site so viewers can purchase your prints, and include the web address for this with your name in the image in Photobucket. While you're at it with your own website, get a load of "pay per click" banners on there.

It appears that one of the characteristics of the 21st Century is the growing acceptance of criminality as a behavioral norm. It will probably get worse.

Silvan -- about 4/5 of the way down on the page I provided the link for, there's a brief description of the filing requirements for an "unpublished collection." There may be more details on the form used to register copyright in Visual Arts, originally called Form VA. I should say here that I'm not a lawyer; I spent about 10 years running an intellectual property licensing program which is where I picked some of this info up. Googling "copyright" and "unpublished collection" turned up <a href"http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/primer.asp">this</a> site, which may provide more of the details you're looking for. The info is from 2000, though, and may not be up-to-date. There were plenty of results to the search, so I'm sure you can find more info out there.<p>Sam, I was lifting information from the US Copyright Office site. Sorry if the information was incorrect. I did think, though, that copyright violation claims had to be filed in federal court, not state or local. Thus, if you can't get access to federal court without registering, you've got no ability to take legal action.

Link didn't work. Let me try again.<p><a href="http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/primer.asp">Link to Editorialphoto.com</a>

Jennifer,

 

If you don't register you have what is called a common law copyright.

 

Here is an example of a case that went to state courts rather than federal courts.

 

http://importance.corante.com/archives/2005/04/05/new_york_common_law_copyright_protects_50year_old_sound_recordings.php

 

Jeff,

 

Copyright infringement of by itself is not a criminal offense, it is a civil matter. In the 1700s copyrights lasted less than 20 years. So had copyright law have not been changed in Doug's case his picture would be in the public domain by now.

Ok, I am not by any means a computer knowledgeable person BUT I used to work in a bank and most checks had a feature that when you scanned or copied them VOID would appear all over. We are all photographers and we have thought at a time or another about the possibility of our work being used without our will or knowledge. Is there no computer programmer out there that can create such a system that would make my name appear all over my picture as soon as someone saved it on their computer? If there is a way to "steal" someone else?s picture, there must be a way to prevent it. Being OK with it is not an option. Doug, thank you for sharing this with us. I know you are upset about your pictures being cloned but please keep just one watermark on your pictures. I want them back!