Photography Copyright Information

Even though I hesitate to make a serious business out of my photography I decided that it was time to research what I need to do to protect my pictures that are floating around on the internet via my blog.

I was inspired yesterday after perusing a website built by another Navy wife here in Sicily, Pinch My Salt. She has built an amazing site based on food and life and recently won an award for best food blog.

As I scanned her "about me" section I noticed the copyright information she had posted. The link led me to creativecommons.org. Still unsure as to what their purpose was I navigated to the FAQs and then clicked a link to the copyright.gov website and clicked on Copyright Basics.

Here are a few of the things that I learned (items in bold are quoted from the copyright.gov website):

1. Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. Basically this means that from the moment I put pen to paper or click the shutter on my camera and an image exists on my memory card that work is protected by copyright law.
2. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright.
3. The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law, although it is often beneficial.
4. The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all the following three elements: The symbol © (the letter C in a circle), or the word “Copyright,” or the abbreviation “Copr.”; The year of first publication of the work; The name of the owner of copyright in the work. (Example: © 2006 John Doe)
5. Copyright registration is not a condition of copyright protection...however copyright registration provides several advantages such as before an infringement suit may be filed in court, registration is necessary for works of U.S. origin. (Visit copyright.gov for complete list)

Once I had a general understanding of the basics I went back to the creativecommons.org website. Reading through their FAQ I discovered the following:

Creative Commons licenses give you the ability to dictate how others may exercise your copyright rights—such as the right of others to copy your work, make derivative works or adaptations of your work, to distribute your work and/or make money from your work.

I decided to utilize their website to develop code to post on my personal blog, establishing what uses my photos may and may not be used for. I was also able to download graphics to imprint onto my pictures as a reminder that they are protected by copyright laws and are licensed for limited uses.

I feel like a weight has been lifted. I knew that I needed to research and understand copyright basics but, as with anything legal, I was intimidated and didn't want to misunderstand or miss something. It was much simpler than I expected.

Disclaimer: This website does not offer legal advice. If you are interested in copyrighting your work please start by visiting copyright.gov to see how the laws apply to you.