E X H I B I T I O N S P A C E

C O M I C B O O K B A S E D O N M Y T H O L O G YW I T H A M O D E R N T W I S T

F i n a l Ye a r B T E C N a t i o n a l G r a p h i c D e s i g n

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C o p y r i g h t I s s u e s

Copyright As an artist or a photographer, your most valuable assets are your

creations. An artist's work can end up on someone else's product,

marketing piece, or website, without the artist's permission and

without the artist ever earning a royalty. The piece may even have been

modified or there might be no credit disclosing who created it. Many

artists and photographers feel there is not much they can do to stop

that, or just do not know how to protect themselves. Did you know

that $30 and a few minutes of your time could mean the difference

between preventing your creation from being stolen or standing by

helplessly? Or that you cannot file a lawsuit unless you register the

copyright on your work? This pamphlet will arm you with the

knowledge you need to protect your artwork or photographs, and put

to rest some common myths.

Works of art are automatically protected by copyrights. Copyrights

protect the expression of an idea. Ideas may be expressed in artistic

forms such as photographs, songs, poems, sculptures and paintings.

Copyrights give the author or artist the exclusive right to copy,

distribute, publicly perform, and make derivative works from the

protected work. When you sell a piece, you are selling the tangible parts

of it, like the canvas and the frame, but you are retaining ownership of

the image itself. The purchaser obtains an implied license to use the

image for personal use. Your sale of a painting or a photograph does

not give the purchaser the right to copy, distribute, publicly perform,

and make derivative works of that image. That means that if a third party

purchases your painting and, without your permission, hangs it in a

gallery and charges an admission to view it, they have exceeded their

licensing rights and violated your copyright. Likewise, derivative works

are protected - an important concept for an artist to understand. It is

not acceptable to recreate someone else's work by simply making some

modifications. It is a common misconception that as long as you change

a piece by a certain percentage, it is not an infringement. Actually, there

is no such test. The question is whether the second creator simply used

the idea or concept, or if he or she began with the original work and

then made modifications to it. The latter is a derivative work.

Copyrights are owned by the creator of the work and not by the

person who commissioned the work. Someone other than the artist

can own a work only if it is under the statutory definition of a "work

made for hire," or if the copyright is assigned in writing. If the artist is

an employee who creates the work in the scope of his employment,

the employer will own the piece. If the artist is not an employee, then

the person who hires the artist will own the work only if the copyright

is assigned to her in writing or if the work was "a work specially ordered

or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as part

of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, if the parties expressly

agree in a written instrument signed by them that the work shall be

considered a work made for hire." Photographs, paintings or sculptures

that are not commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective

work cannot be works made for hire but can still be assigned through

a written assignment of the copyright.

Copyrights last for 70 years from the death of the author. If the work

was a work made for hire, its term is 95 years from the date of

publication or 120 years from the date of creation, whichever expires

first. Once the term expires, the work belongs to the public and can be

used by anyone.

There are two important steps to protect your copyrights. The first is

to simply sign your painting or add a copyright notice to it. A copyright

notice should look like this: © 2004 Maria Crimi Speth. The year should

be the year that the work was created. The name should be the legal

name of the owner. This notice puts others on notice that the work is

protected by copyright and is not in the public domain. The second way

to protect your copyright is to register the copyright with the Library

of Congress. The benefits of copyright registration are that (1) it can be

used to prove ownership; (2) you cannot file your lawsuit until your

copyright is registered; (3) if you register before an infringement, you

can recover your attorney fees if you win a lawsuit; and (4) if you

register before an infringement, you can recover up to $100,000 per

violation without proving actual damages.

Not only is registration beneficial, it is not expensive or difficult. Log on

to the Library of Congress website at www.loc.gov, click on US

Copyright Office, click on Publications, and click on Forms. While you

are in the Publications category, you might want to read more about

copyright protection in the many publications available online and for

downloading. Choose the form that applies to your type of work. For

paintings, photographs, and sculptures, choose Form VA

(with instructions). Follow the instructions to fill out the form. Send the

completed signed form, two copies of your work (one if it has not been

published) and $30 to the address in the right-hand corner of the form.

In approximately eight months, you will receive the copyright form back

from the copyright office stamped as registered. An often-asked

question is whether each piece must be separately registered. After all,

$30 is not so inexpensive if you have hundreds of images. The copyright

office does allow the combined registration of all photographs created

in the same year as long as the date of publication of each photograph

is identified either on the image or on a cross reference sheet. You can

also register a collection of works, such as a book of photographs, a

book of poems, or a book of sketches. You should be cautious since

you can decrease your level of protection over individual pieces by

including them in a collection. Your prize pieces should be separately

registered and your collections should not be too large.

Even if you have limited time or financial resources, there are basic

inexpensive steps that you can take to protect your creative works. If

your work is infringed, consult an attorney to determine whether you

can recover damages or stop the infringement. It may be an old cliché,

but an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure!

Website;

www.hg.org/article.asp?id=18750

www.copyright.gov/

www.artres.com/c/htm/StaticPage2.aspx?page=Copyright

www.clickandcopyright.com/

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COPYRIGHT PROTECTINGYOUR ARTWORK.

Copyright protecting your Artwork.In copyright protecting your artwork, it helps you maintain right for

distribution and duplication.

How to get a copyright protection.Your work gets protect automatically during the creation of the

artwork or design. But to officially protect or further protect you work,

it need to be register, added to copyright notice and if uploaded on the

on to computer, you will need to provide evidence of when it was

created.

Can I sell the right to copy my Artwork?Officially selling your artwork is called license. License is giving someone

the right and permission to use your artwork in ways you agree with

and discussing with the customer about usage of fees. In some cases

you may sell all the right to sell of artwork or controlling license terms

and condition for the artwork. For example selling the right of artwork

to magazine may use the artwork for other stuff such having the graphic

or mugs, flyers, business card and clothing.

What is protected by copyright law?Artwork is your conceptual property that is protected by copyright

law. In copyright protecting your art (graphics, photos, music, videos

etc.) you transform idea or concept into tangible concept.

What are my copyrights?In copyright issue laws, you and only can make as many copies of your

original artwork or market it. The rights and laws are exclusive to you,

which mean you only can use or allow other people to use it.

What is Not protected by copyright law?Regardless of whether or not they are fixed in a tangible form, copyright

law does not protect the process, media technique, procedure, materials

ideas and concepts.

EVIDENCE

This screen shoot shows evidence when artwork was created. It shows

the sketch work, inked page and coloured in character.

To copyright protect my artwork, I will add a copyright notice to it (©)and

include my own logo or name. This shows other people , that my artwork

is protected by copyright and is not in the public domain. Other way of

protecting my artwork n future is by registering my artwork by Uk

Copyright Corporation. Registering also provides evidence

or proof of ownership.

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