Posts from the ‘For Artists’ Category

Benefits: Registering art works with the U.S. Copyright Office

Why is it so important to register my photographs with the U.S. Copyright Office?

Outlined below are some best practices for photographers to consider, especially fine art photographers.  Please note that this information is not legal advice, but rather serves as a broad overview concerning copyright issues pertaining to photographic works of art.  (For specific cases and questions, it is always best to seek legal advice from an attorney in your jurisdiction  who practices regularly in this practice area).  Obtaining a copyright registration affords you powerful tools to use against copyright infringers.  Ultimately, registering your images with the U.S. Copyright Office affords an artist certain benefits, outlined immediately below.

U.S. Copyright Law

United States copyright law does not require that the creator of a work register the work with the U.S. Copyright Office.  U.S. copyright law provides that when a work is created, the work is protected automatically by U.S. copyright law without the need to register the work or display a copyright notice.  Copyright protection generally attaches to a work the moment it is created and fixed in a tangible medium of expression.  The law considers something to be “fixed in a tangible medium” when it is embodied in a copy or phonorecord so that it can be perceived and reproduced, whether or not the author uses the “©” symbol or the copyright notice.  (This covers a wide range of media.  For example, words scribbled on a piece of scrap paper; when software loaded into a computer´s random access memory; or when a photograph is taken, are considered to be fixed in a tangible medium.)

Benefits of Copyright Registration

Often either photographers register their photographs incorrectly, or they completely fail to register them at all.  While registration is not required to obtain a copyright, there are several benefits to doing so and one should always register works that they wish to protect.  It is very important to read all of the U.S. Copyright forms correctly to ensure that you are completing the appropriate forms to ensure protection of your works of art.

United States copyright law provides the following valuable benefits to websites that register their copyrights:

• By registering your copyright, you create a public record of your work and your copyright claim.

• If somebody infringes on your website copyright, you may sue for copyright infringement.  Copyright registration is a prerequisite for filing an infringement claim in federal court with respect to works that originate in the United States.  If you want to sue an infringer and you have not registered your website, it will take four months or more after receiving your registration application before the U.S. Copyright Office issues a Certificate of Registration.

• If you register your copyright before or within five (5) years of publication, the registration is evidence in court as to the validity of your copyright and of the facts stated in your U.S. Copyright Office registration certificate.

• If you register your copyright within three (3) months after publishing it or before an infringement occurs, you may seek statutory damages and attorney’s fees in an infringement lawsuit.  For works of art that are not registered timely, the infringer is only liable for your actual damages and the infringer’s profits.

Additional Benefits of Copyright Registration

Besides making a public record of your protected art works, copyright registration has the very important benefit of allowing you to obtain statutory damages for infringement.  If the copyright is registered, however, the owner is entitled to statutory damages of $750.00 to $30,000.00 as determined by the court, even if actual damages cannot be proven.  If the copyright owner proves that infringement was willful, the court may award statutory damages of up to $150,000.00 per violation.

You cannot obtain attorneys’ fees for a copyright infringement action unless you registered your copyright before the copyright infringement first occurred, unless your registration is within three (3) months of first publication.

Another benefit of a registered copyright is that the copyright owner’s cease and desist letter will have substantially more “teeth” because the copyright owner has the ability to seek statutory damages and attorneys’ fees.  These two factors make it much more likely that the author of the art work(s) can convince an infringer to cease displaying infringing material without resorting to litigation.

Reflect Prior to Publishing Your Work

As a result, it is best to truly reflect on your work before publishing it in any form, including online publication.  For example, there are legal ramifications and ownership issues to consider when you post/publish your work on Facebook which, is entirely another “animal” in itself.  This is the major reason I decided not to have a Facebook page, Pintrest page, and Tumblr page for this blog, Biscuit’s Space and my website, Katherine Carver Photography.

I hope that you find this information helpful and provides an important aspect to consider prior to publishing your photographs or other works of art.

Artists – A Common Theme

“Something about making art has to do with overcoming things, giving us a clear opportunity for doing things in ways we have always known we should do them.” ― David Bayles

I have regularly been interviewing  various artists for over a year now on this blog, biscuit’s space.  The one consistent theme that I have observed by doing these interviews is that all of these artists share a theme — they all have a burning desire to create their work no matter what and they find a way to create their art, despite obstacles.  The creation of the art fuels the artist.  Also, I have recognized that none of the artists could fathom not creating their work as these artists create their work because they want to and need to create.

However, sometimes, creating art can be daunting.  On this subject, I love the book, Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by Bayles and Ted Orland, which I first read in college.  Below is one of my favorite quotes from this book.  “To require perfection is to invite paralysis.  The pattern is predictable: as you see error in what you have done, you steer your work toward what you imagine you can do perfectly.  You cling ever more tightly to what you already know you can do — away from risk and exploration, and possibly further from the work of your heart.  You find reasons to procrastinate, since to not work is to not make mistakes.”

Here are a few more quotes that I also really like from Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. “You make good work by (among other things) making lots of work that isn’t very good, and gradually weeding out the parts that aren’t good, the parts that aren’t yours.  It’s called feedback, and it’s the most direct route to learning about your own vision.  It’s also called doing your work.  After all, someone has to do your work, and you’re the closest person around.”

“The difference between art and craft lies not in the tools you hold in your hands, but in the mental set that guides them.  For the artisan, craft is an end in itself.  For you, the artist, craft is the vehicle for expressing your vision.  Craft is the visible edge of art.”

Thus, the biggest lesson that I have learned is that the risk of not creating art outweighs the fear.  I encourage you to go forth pursue your artistic and creative endeavors, which is food for your soul.  I have learned that action, even in the smallest amounts, is vital when creating art.  Just remember, nobody else is you and nobody else can create your vision.  Your art matters.  Your life matters.  You never know how you might change someone’s life for the better!

 

Powerful Quotes

Below are some life changing quotes that I love.

What in your life is calling you?

When all the noise is silenced,

the meetings adjourned,

the list laid aside

and the wild iris blooms by itself

in the dark forest

what still pulls on your soul?
~The Terma Collective

 

“…the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred.  A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.”  ~W.H. Murray

 

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues, because without courage you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.  You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently without courage.”  ~Maya Angelou

 

It is not the critic who counts;

not the man who points out how strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena,

whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again,

because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement,

and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly…

~Theodore Roosevelt

 

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”  ~Eleanor Roosevelt

 

“Inside of you there’s an artist you don’t know about..Say yes quickly, if you know, if you’ve known it from before the beginning of the universe.”  ~Rumi

 

“Children, like animals, use all their senses to discover the world.  Then artists come along and discover it the same way, all over again.”  ~Eudora Welty

 

“The deepest secret is that life is not a process of discovery, but a process of creation.  You are not discovering yourself, but creating yourself anew.  See, therefore, not to find out Who You Are, seek to determine Who You Want to Be.”  ~Neal Donald Walsch

 

“The openness to begin is all the openness required to have each day.  We start today, and tomorrow we start again, and the day after we start again as we will the day after that.  In this way does our journey come to us.  We begin.  The rest unfolds through us.”  ~Julia Caomeron

 

“It is art that makes life, makes interest, makes importance, and I know of no substitute for the force and beauty of its process.”  ~Henry James

 

“Good dogs are with us for a little while to teach us how to love like it’s our job…because it is.”  ~Unknown

 

“Dogs have a way of finding the people that need them…Filling an emptiness we don’t even know we have”  ~Thorn Jones

 

“The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that  never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog..He will sleep on this cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his mater’s side.  He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounters with the roughness of the world..wWehn all other friends desert, he remains.  ~George G. Vets

 

“Dogs come into our lives to teach us about love, they depart to teach us about loss.  A new dog never replaces an old dog; it merely expands the heart.  If you have loved many dogs your heart is very big.”  ~Unknown