Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/11/19
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]> gents; > my understanding, subject to review, is that after U.S. copyright > laws changed in the early 70's, everything was copyrighted as > soon as it was created. registering the copyright only improved > your case in court if and when enforcement became an issue. > is my memory failing ? did the lawyer i consulted lead me astray ? > am i crazy ? > answer the last question first ;-) No - you are absolutely correct. BUT unless it is registered, with all the extra benefits and remedies that adds, you will a) probably have a hard time finding an IP lawyer who will take a case for unregistered work and b) most likely have to cover all the legal costs yourself. There is stacks of good info here http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/ (incliyuding section on how to make registration failry easy - group registration etc) http://www.editorialphoto.com/copyright/primer.asp with this drawn from it: "The copyright law was pushed through by publishers for fear of the new invention of the day, the copy machine. The fear at the time was that people would just take a magazine and "republish" it themselves. Thus because the process of copyright registration was set up with magazines in mind, it is not particularly photographer friendly. Having said that, registration is a necessary thing. The way the regulations are set up, all of the benefits of the 1976 copyright act come from the registration of your images. If someone infringes your images and they are not registered, the infringer has broken the law. Most infringers willingly take the risk, because they know most photographer's do not register their material. They also know that they will pay little more when caught then they would have to if they licensed the image from you. The logical conclusion is why not take the risk. Without registration, you as the image maker bear the burden of proving what the image was worth and the burden of your own legal costs. There is no mechanism for triple fees or punitive damages without registration. Once an image has been registered the law is set up to compensate the copyright holder with his or her legal fees and punitive damages of up to $150,000.00 per image infringed. One attorney I met at a panel discuss on copyright calls this the biggest legal "hammer" he knows of when negotiating settlement or prosecuting a copyright in infringement. The difference being registered and not is legally "stunning". Having been personally infringed in the past I know all to well the difference myself" ... etc