Copyright....that little notice you see on photos in books, well lets face it is the legal staement of ownership that tells you that you cannot use without the permission of the copyright owner....
However I see tons of improper copyright notices everyday, especially on photography sites.....yes there is a correct way to write a copyright noitice.........over 25 years ago I was at a local photo printer and a person brought in a photo to have a copy negative made of so they could get decent enlargements......the customer service rep told this person to return to the photog for this as the image was copyrighted.....there was a really nice gold stamp of the photogs signature (nope not the copyright) and on the back was an actual copyright notice.....In years past the simple or very elaborate gold stamp signature was enough to twart some processors from copying images...but not all.....some discount stores that would hire any tom, dick or mary to run the photo counter and not educate them on copyrights and such would still take the Olin MIlls and even a photo taken by famous photogs and send to their lab to be copied and printed.....as far as I know there was never a law suit placed agains the big nationwide discount houses for this....
Now to try to educate you on copyrights for photographic purposes......
so here is a sample of the types of copyright notices I have seen athat are almost worthless....I almost because it is known that YOU the photographer does own the copyrihgt to YOUR image from the moment the shutter cliks.........
HOWEVER..........unless you tell the world that you own said image it can and will be copied and used illegally andwhen you finally find out it could cost you more than it is worth to persue in a court of law........
So on to the sample types......Oh and I am using my own name in all of these samples........
1- copyright arthur scott
2-copyright arthur scott 2008
3-copywrite arthur scott
4-copywrite arthur scott 2008
5- arthur scott©
6-arthur scott © 2008
I have seen many more that I willn ot waste OUR time listing....here is the correct way to write your copyright notice.
copyright © 2008 your name .........................this is the format used on Nolo.com also on the bottom of all wesites I have been to...........
A last thought on this issue.....just be cause you, the photographer, creator of a work is the rightful copyright owner, YOU STILL NEED TO DO A FORMAL COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION WITH THE U.S. COPYRIGHT OFFICE FOR ALL YOUR PAST WORK and FUTURE WORKS AS THEY ARE DONE. This way there is no doubt if you have to take someone to court for copyright infringement.
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