Copyrighting your internet moniker?

OK so this is something I've been thinking about for a while, and I recall @dcstep (I believe, IIRC) saying he has copyrighted his name (as seen on his watermarked images)... so I'm wondering if anyone (Hello David) has actually gone through the process to get a copy right, and what al is involved?

 

Looking at the government website for it, it ones look easy, in fact it seems rather daunting! I'm not making any money (currently/yet) off my name but my internet "moniker" is one I've used extensively over many years... can I get a copyright on it?

 

Thoughts, comments and especially personal experience appreciated.

Thanks in advance,

Tom

As long as somebody hasn't already beaten you to it, you're free to give it a try. A lot of companies establish tons of copyrights they think others might want to use, and they can then sell the rights, so it pays to have a knowledgable person do a search before you get too hung up on it.

Where I work (Australia), Copyright cannot be applied to a person's Name - Copyright is a law for protecting material created by a person.

(e.g. journal articles, novels, screenplays, poems, song lyrics reports computer programs, paintings, drawings, cartoons, sculpture, craft work, architectural plans, buildings, photographs, maps, plans, choreography, screenplays, plays, mime pieces, music, lyrics, recordings, cinematograph films, etc)

 

However:

A person's Name can be 'protected' by it being registered as or part of a Trade Mark.

A person's Name can be 'protected' by it being registered as or part of a Registered Business Name or a Registered Company Name.

 

And:

A person can be a Sole Trader and Trade under his/her Legal Name, without registering it, even if the that name is registered as part of a Trade Mark, Business or Company, by some other Entity.

 

***

 

Our Company always presented our Registered Company Name and my Registered Business Name in the same specific Colours; Font; and Aspect Ratio: these being artworks created by me, were indeed protected by Copyright. But that's not the same as my "name" being protected by Copyright.

 

I would be surprised and interested if the inability to Copyright one's name differs much, elsewhere.

 

WW

Edited July 23, 2019 by William Michael

Thank you guys.

Just to be clear I’m not talking about copyrighting my personal name, but my internet moniker, which I have used for over 10 years, and am registered and posting on numerous Internet forums, Instagram, and other places.

Moderator Note:

Thank you for the clarification.

That clarification is relevant and important considering the Title of the thread and also the fact that the noun "name" is used in your OP.

For the clarity of this conversation I shall change the Title of the thread to reflect the content your Post #4.

 

The change will be -

remove: "Copyrighting your name?"

replace with: "Copyrighting your internet moniker?"

 

William

Trademark is the usual protection for this sort of thing.

Trademarks

When you create an image (including your watermark) it is automatically copyrighted. If your "Register" your image with the US Patent office, then you gain extra statutory damages, in the event that your copyright is infringed. The statutory damages are typically several times your actual damages. For instance, it's conceivable that an image file that you would have sold for $300 will have statutory damages of $3,000.

 

I'm very sorry to say that the Registration process is indeed daunting, such that I struggle every time that I register a batch of images. Daunting as it is, it is something that you can do, just plan to spend two-hours on something that should only take five-minutes.

 

Your logo, is a copyrighted image that you've created, or had someone else create for you and sell you the rights. Either way, simply Register the image of your logo when you're Registering a batch of images.

 

It's interesting to note that since I started including a prominent Copyright notice on my images and registering my images, infringement of my images has dropped dramatically in the USA. The Ukraine, Asian and African thieves still steal with abandon.

 

The logo is an extra step that I recommend. It doesn't need to be super fancy. See mine below:

 

Dragonfly - Wings Up by David Stephens, on Flickr

 

BTW, that's my actual signature, as interpreted by one of the logo services. They want to "create" a logo for you, but I think that it should either be your own signature or clearly not be a signature, such as some sort of stylized font. The ones that look like stylized cursive seem misleading to me.

Edited July 23, 2019 by dcstep

Interesting question! I live in NL which has different rules but think it depends on what you intend to do with your moniker.

 

For me, it breaks down into two parts:

1. Can I prevent anyone else using my moniker for business purposes (making money from it) in the area where I live/work?
   
2. Can I prevent anyone else using my moniker (internationally) on an internet forum, blog, etc.?
   

I agree with @William Michael and @JDMvW that registering your moniker as a 'business name' (operational or not) or 'trademark' would give you the most 'clout' with part 1. should you ever need to use it. From this article, I understand that - if you live in the US- registering a business name gives you protection at state level. Registering a trademark is a more rigorous (and probably a longer and more expensive) process but it gives you protection at a national level. You'll probably need to support your trademark application with (intended) products at a national level. There's a "Ricochet Rider Inc." registered in Louisiana but unless you're in the same state (and if they haven't registered a trademark), you should be OK.

 

Part 2. is perhaps trickier. IMHO the only 'registration' that carries any weight internationally is domain name (URL). Registering your moniker as a domain name - together with having a registered 'business name" should hopefully be enough to persuade someone else (or forum/site moderators) that a switch to a different moniker would be advisable in to order to prevent further action from you.

 

I also came across nickname.com which claims to issue you with a certificate that you've 'officially registered your moniker' with them. I have no idea how much clout this carries and - even if it did - I can imagine getting into discussions about when someone else started using the same moniker and when you registered it. Having a registered 'business name" or "trademark" and domain name avoids these discussions. You then own them.

 

Mike

My experiences, regarding 'theft' of my created material are similar to David Stevens'. Easy to fix locally, pretty easy to fix in North America, but Asia, Africa and parts of Europe, very difficult.

 

BTW - For folk working in AUS, there is no 'registration' procedure for Copyright here.

 

WW

Thank you, everyone. Your remarks and experiences are really helpful.

 

I wonder if it helps at all that the metadata embedded in each photo from my digital camera includes both my full name and my internet moniker as well? I mean in terms of protecting my “product” (which really, at least so far, isn’t one at all)?

 

The thing is, tho that I don’t sell images or do anything particular with my so called moniker, Ricochetrider. So I’m not certain there’s any commercial potential. I'd like very much to think that perhaps my "work" (using the term loosely), IE certain aspects of my photography might or could come to something, and that my years of internet musings and forum posts, including photos, might be seen as a general sort of "body of work", eventually. Regardless, I have a reasonably well established internet persona as Ricochetrider, (although perhaps in small circles or certain niche groups) and have been wondering if it is worth it to make any attempt at all to protect the name?

 

The person registered as Ricochet Rider Inc in Louisiana also has a twitter account under this name. The person, a certain Jared someone or other, has a minimum number of “tweets” under his belt, 2 or 3 to be specific- mostly saying foul and derogatory things about Brett Farve the U.S. football player!

:-/

 

Should you happen upon this person on the internet or elsewhere, please assure yourself- ‘tis not I! Why in heck this person would even bother remains a mystery to me.

 

Thanks again to everyone for posting.

Tom

OP, go ahead with all your proposals if it is important to you. It will help put your mind at ease.

Thank you, everyone. Your remarks and experiences are really helpful.

 

I wonder if it helps at all that the metadata embedded in each photo from my digital camera includes both my full name and my internet moniker as well? I mean in terms of protecting my “product” (which really, at least so far, isn’t one at all)?

 

...

 

You're welcome.

 

Yes, the first step to protecting your images is to record you copyright in you meta-data. A few years back, before I started putting my logo on the face of my work, a woman stole several of my images, removed my meta-data and tried to sell them as her own, even making up stories about how thrilling it was to take each. Anyway, my attorney brought a claim of over $100,000 vs her, largely on the strength of the meta-data in my RAW files and copyright notes on Flickr. Alas, she filed for bankruptcy. I DID get her attention and she stopped stealing my stuff. Her husband wasn't thrilled to find out what her "hobby" might do to their finances.

Edited August 21, 2019 by dcstep