copyrights

I want to copyright the portraits that I take who should I contact about doing that or where should I go for information on doing so. Thank you :wink:

They are automatically copyrighted the moment you take them.

I you live in the US and want ot know more check out

http://www.copyright.gov/register/

If a portrait was commissioned by someone are they not the sole owner?

GREAPER according to that link they are not copyrighted untill you send it in with the $30 fee Visual Art Works (http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html)

If a portrait was commissioned by someone are they not the sole owner?

They are the owner of the particular copy of the print you give them, however, they are not the owner of the RIGHTS to that photograph, the photographer is, by default the owner of the rights. The customer is breaking the law if they make copies of their print, regardless of whether or not the photographer has gone to the trouble of registering the portrait for copyright. Registering through the US government helps in the event of a court case, but is not by any means the only way to protect your rights as a photographer.

It is intellectual property of the photographer, and unless the photographer gives, in writing, permission to copy the photograph, the negative, or digital file is the photographers to do what they please with.

This is why they have the signs at Walmart and other places saying that they cannot help you make copies of professional portraits. Not that it stops anyone from doing it most times. :lol

In short, the moment you snap the picture, the picture is YOURS. You may however, choose to protect it by registering it through the government, but this is hardly practical for things beyond fine art.

My understanding of copyright from when I was researching it is exactly how Roz said it.

Well I being new to this area have been doin some reading ( now my head hurts LOL)

Yes you own the image but no you dont have copyright rights unless you copyright it

make sure you have an license agreement

this info from
ASMP
The leading association of photographers helping photographers
Copyright info from a Professional Photographer Association (http://www.asmp.org/commerce/legal/copyright/)

TechJD don't get confused by over reading (I know I've done that often enough). This is directly from the page you linked to. You have to register it in order to bring a lawsuit, but that doesn't mean you didn't have the copyright before you registered it.

You already own it. In most cases, unless you specifically signed away your rights, you — the photographer — own the copyright and the right to license and re-license the image in any way you choose. This is true even if you have not registered your copyright or put your copyright notice on the image. Where registration makes a real difference is when something has gone wrong and your rights are being infringed.

Proper copyright registration of your work establishes a public record of your copyright claim.

You cannot start a valid lawsuit until after you have registered the copyright to an image; therefore it makes sense to register the copyright to your images before they are published.

right which has to be done with in 3 months of taking the photo

I know I'm new here, but just tryin to be helpfull and learn at the same time

as I will have some photos published this year in my kids School Year Book
I took pictures for the track team
and I dont have any kind of license agreement or contract with the school
I was just so happy that they would use some of my photos / I just got my camera in Apirl

Actually I think it's great that you're researching this stuff on your own and provided a link. I hadn't seen that page before and it's chock full of good information. I'm just too damn nitpicky to let particulars go. For instance here's where the three months comes into play and it says that the registration has to be within three months of first publication, not within three months of when the photo is taken:

http://www.asmp.org/commerce/legal/copyright/protect.php

If infringement of a published work begins before the work has been registered, the copyright owner can obtain the ordinary remedies for copyright infringement (including injunctions, actual damages and lost profits, as well as impounding and disposition of infringing articles). However, the owner cannot obtain special remedies (statutory damages and attorney’s fees) unless registration was made before the infringement commenced or within three months after first publication of the work.

so if u just put a copyright at the bottem of ur website then they are copyrighted. its as simple as that?

Even simpler than that Shua, it's copyrighted even if you don't put the copyright symbol there. However as TechJD pointed out from his reading before you can defend the copyright in court (at least according to the information from the site linked to above) you need to register any work you want to protect the copyright on.

my misstake on the 3 months :)
I was geting a headack lol I read so much
and tryin to find out, I learned a few things I didnt know
and wanted to share with the site as most seem to be helpfull, I'd hate to see someone get burnt and not get credit for what they have done

You do not need to register the copywright for an image you create it is automatically copywrighted.

Registering the copywright affects the amount of damages you can expect in an infringement lawsuit. If you do not register the copywright you can only collect the actual damages incurred as a result of the infringment and no lawyers fees (that's important). If you register the copywright you can sue for 10 times the actual damages and lawyers fees.... you should always register your images with the US copywright office.

The good news is that it only costs $30 and you can register groups of images and do not have to register them individually. Most photographers who register their images wait until they have hundreds or thousands of images and register them together on a periodic basis.

For information about how to register images you can go to http://www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html

-Brent-
www.abouttheimage.com

Speaking of Copyrights... Does anyone have a release form, or can anyone give me some guidence on one... or an example... I would like one for my business but have had difficulties finding one, even at Office Depot etc.

Speaking of Copyrights... Does anyone have a release form, or can anyone give me some guidence on one... or an example... I would like one for my business but have had difficulties finding one, even at Office Depot etc.

Tink, i would suggest buying a book called "Business and Legal Forms for Photographers" by Tad Crawford. It has some good basic releases.

For more info or to find this book see my post on this topic at
http://www.abouttheimage.com/2005/06/sweet_release.html

-Brent-
www.abouttheimage.com