13 replies to this topic

[bluegill576]

i have seen a lot of photos of flies on the forum and in the database with the little copyright thing in the corner and was wondering what exactly the proses of copyrighting a photo is and if it is free or not. Any information is appreciated. Thanks

[tidewaterfly]

Bluegill, I looked into this many years ago, for the pictures I had on my website, when I was tying flies commercially. Used to be all you had to do was to state that the material posted was copyrighted, and in the case of photo's posted elsewhere, such as this forum, just add the copyright symbol, the date, or year & your name or company name if that's the case. Unless something's changed in the past several years, you should be able to do it yourself. Basically all your doing with a copyright, is stating "this is mine, and as of this date, you can't use it without my permission". Unless you're using it in some commercial endeavor, most folks don't bother. However, if you don't wish others to profit from your work, then of course protect it.

[Stippled Popper]

Bluegill:

What Tidewaterfly says is basically correct. In order to claim a copyright you need to affix the (co) symbol, date and name.
This is enough to be able to file an infringement claim if it is worth your time money and effort. If you actually file the paperwork
with The Copyright Office, there are additional remedies available. However, the current registration fee is $65.00 if you file
on paper and $35 if you file electronically. It was only $10 back in the 1980s when I filed a few for some of my original Pen & Ink
works.

Filing the paper work would probably be overkill. But if you are curious, here are references to U.S. Copyright Law. . . .

Visual Arts Copyright Form

Copyright Infringement Information

[deeky]

Also read up on what is covered. A copywrite doesn't prohibit any and all use of the photo. It just prohibits people from making a profit from the photo. The amount of time and effort you put in will depend on what you are trying to control.

Deeky

[tidewaterfly]

Yeah, the legal stuff can get involved & expensive. I once had a fellow copy some of my fly photo's right off my website, and was using them on his to sell his flies. I could have hired a lawyer to deal with it, but for the cost it really wasn't worth it. However, I did send him an email letting him know that the material was copyrighted & if he didn't remove it, the next step would be contact from my attorney. Most folks don't want legal problems, so he did as I asked. Ended up he tied some flies for me & I sent him some photo's of his flies to use. Worked out pretty well without much cost at all to either of us, but it don't always happen that way.

[ashbourn]

Even without the copyright symbol, your work is still protected. It is like a posted sign, without the posted sign it is still private property, the posted sign is just the first warning telling someone to leave. Copyright symbol works the same way, it is a clear warning not to use the content. Your work is your work but it can be used for non-money making uses, but the credit can't be given to someone else in those cases. Copyright law is a little confusing, but here is a great FAQ on the topic http://www.copyright...neral.html#what


Joe

[Kirk Dietrich]

With digital photography, you also have the benefit of Meta-data attached to the original file and there are even ways to embed personal information in to the metadata file to prove it was your photo. I think that has to be set in your camera and it will be attached to the meta-data in every photo you take with that camera. If it came to it where someone was actually making a bunch of money on a photo they stole from you, you could produce the photo with the meta-data to prove it was yours.

Kirk

[bluegill576]

Ok thanks for all the info guys. I think I am going to try to put something in the meta-data for just regular flies on the forum and then for flies I will sell I'll put my name and the copyright symbol on the bottom.

[Stippled Popper]

Ok thanks for all the info guys. I think I am going to try to put something in the meta-data for just regular flies on the forum and then for flies I will sell I'll put my name and the copyright symbol on the bottom.

Just be certain to read and understand what you may and may not copyright.
There are links to this information elsewhere in this thread.

[flytire]

what are you trying to copyright? the pattern or just the photo?

why are you copyrighting? is it for theft of your photo?

heres something that might be useful

http://www.copyright...circs/circ1.pdf

[bluegill576]

what are you trying to copyright? the pattern or just the photo?

why are you copyrighting? is it for theft of your photo?

heres something that might be useful

http://www.copyright...circs/circ1.pdf

I am just copyrighting photos. i am just trying to prevent theft of my photos.

[bluegill576]

Ok thanks for all the info guys. I think I am going to try to put something in the meta-data for just regular flies on the forum and then for flies I will sell I'll put my name and the copyright symbol on the bottom.

Just be certain to read and understand what you may and may not copyright.
There are links to this information elsewhere in this thread.

I will read it soon. There is a lot of stuff to read and it isn't exactly the most exciting reading.

[Stippled Popper]

Ok thanks for all the info guys. I think I am going to try to put something in the meta-data for just regular flies on the forum and then for flies I will sell I'll put my name and the copyright symbol on the bottom.

Just be certain to read and understand what you may and may not copyright.
There are links to this information elsewhere in this thread.

I will read it soon. There is a lot of stuff to read and it isn't exactly the most exciting reading.

Welcome to the wonderful world of business!

[steeldrifter]

Everyone else has pretty much covered it pretty well already, but I'll just add my own thoughts as a business owner that has had people use his photos for their own purposes without my consent before.


You can Copyright just about anything, but to actually follow through legally when someone uses your work is 99.9% of the time not a wise cost effective measure. I have had an instance where someone was using one of my pictures to sell his rod building items on Ebay for a while about 2 years ago. Usually a simply email saying "I am the original owner of this photo and would appreciate it if you used your own photo instead of mine" usually is all that is needed.

But with that said sometimes I will put my company name and year in the lower right hand corner of some of my photos just to deter people from using my photos in the first place.

Steve