If I'm not registered as a business...are my images copyrighted?

[rochelle_negle]

<p>If I don't have a business registered, are my images still copyright to my own name?</p>

[bob_sunley]

<p>You may own the copyright, but they are not registered. That is a specific process that depends on which country you live in. A business can own the copyright of an image if it is a registered legal entity.</p>

<p> </p>

[frank_skomial]

A person can own the copyright of an image if it is registered. You do not have to be a business to register images.

[rochelle_negle]

<p>Does that mean I have to register each & every image I take</p>

[frans_waterlander]

<p>Unless your images are very important, like shots for major advertising campaigns, there is probably no need to register images. By simply putting the copyright sign, year of first publication and your name on your images you are protected to the extent of your need and willingness to go after violators.</p>

[simon27]

<p>You can also batch register a group of images for $45. There is more info at the copyright office's <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/" target="_blank">website</a> (http://www.copyright.gov/).</p>

<p>- s.</p>

[steve m smith]

<p>Your images are copyrighted from the moment you make them. The copyright belongs to you unless there is another agreement in place to the contrary.</p>

<p>You don't need to register in order to own the copyright but in some countries, US included, this can be done for extra protection.</p>

<p> </p>

[henryp]

<p>The law may have changed, but last I looked in the USA, the benefit of copyrighting images is triple damage if someone steals one. You do not have to copyright them singly and anyone who's made an image can copyright it, no matter what business you're in. If someone steals your image and then you copyright it, your rights are the same, but your monetary compensation will be less.<br>

Henry Posner<br /> <strong>B&H Photo-Video</strong></p>

[craig_shearman1]

<p>Having a business registered or not has nothing to do with copyright law. Depending on the type of photography you do and the state you live in, there may be no need to register as a business in the first place.</p>

[victor glass photography]

<p>I'll read in between the lines of the question and answer this from another angle. Yes as everyone has stated you have the copyright on every image you take (unless you specifically relinquish the copyright through a written contract, or if you took the photo as an employee or while doing "work for hire").<br>

The other angle is that your copywrite, the unregistered one, allows you to use the image IN ANY WAY THAT YOU WISH. No one can tell you that you cannot use it for self-promotion, to win an art contest, the to exhibit in a show, or to make mioney money from. There are caveats, of course. You mind want to doing a google on "model release".</p>