George Ford Posted January 3, 2014 #1 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Hi, Can someone tell me how to copyright my drawings and paintings? For example, do I just sign a piece of work and then put a little © on it?How much does it cost and also is there any free software I can use to put a watermark on my pictures? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Four Winds Posted January 3, 2014 #2 Share Posted January 3, 2014 If you create it you have an automatic copyright on it, at least in the US. I don't know how it works in the UK. As far as adding a watermark, there are a lot of free options according to our good friend google. This was the first link http://picmarkr.com/ Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toast Posted January 3, 2014 #3 Share Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) Hi, Can someone tell me how to copyright my drawings and paintings? For example, do I just sign a piece of work and then put a little © on it?How much does it cost and also is there any free software I can use to put a watermark on my pictures? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright_law_of_the_United_Kingdom#Other_works Edited January 3, 2014 by toast Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted January 3, 2014 #4 Share Posted January 3, 2014 As Razer seez, if you created it you have the copyright, in the UK you don't have to register such a copyright, but it could help in future disputes. To do that the easiest is to find a company specialized (generally solicitors) in doing that. A good starter is here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Waters Posted January 3, 2014 #5 Share Posted January 3, 2014 Hi, Can someone tell me how to copyright my drawings and paintings? For example, do I just sign a piece of work and then put a little © on it?How much does it cost and also is there any free software I can use to put a watermark on my pictures? I'm glad you brought this up in a way because it emphasises how protective and important someone can be about their work being copied. This is the exact reason we have to edit posts on the forums when we see copyrighted text or images belonging to someone else being posted. I think sometimes this is seen as being picky on our part, but that isn't the case at all. After reading this thread I hope some will realise the importance behind not posting copyrighted material and why it gets removed. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Four Winds Posted January 3, 2014 #6 Share Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) I'm glad you brought this up in a way because it emphasises how protective and important someone can be about their work being copied. This is the exact reason we have to edit posts on the forums when we see copyrighted text or images belonging to someone else being posted. I think sometimes this is seen as being picky on our part, but that isn't the case at all. After reading this thread I hope some will realise the importance behind not posting copyrighted material and why it gets removed. If someone posts an original idea on this forum or any forum/site for that matter, do they still have the copyright or does that post become property of the forum/site? My guess is that it varies depending on what tos you agree to but I really don't know. Edited January 3, 2014 by Razer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saru Posted January 3, 2014 #7 Share Posted January 3, 2014 On here we don't claim ownership of any material posted by forum members, I can't speak for how it is on any other sites though. If you post a photo here that you've taken then we couldn't do anything with it without your permission, the image is still yours. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simbi Laveau Posted January 3, 2014 #8 Share Posted January 3, 2014 (edited) No, just because you created it, if you cannot PROVE you did it first, anyone can steal it and market it as their own. Hoowwwwww many lawsuits have there been about this? You need a lawyer for trademark or copyright law . Create your own trademark, and THEN you can say it's yours. Until then, anyone can, steal it. I know people it's happened to, from art, screen plays, music, and even names. If it's a creation of some kind, like a game, invention, piece of furniture, you need a patent. Patents costs about 1000$ to do Edited January 3, 2014 by Simbi Laveau Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr.United_Nations Posted January 3, 2014 #9 Share Posted January 3, 2014 you can email the person in which you want the photo or text from which you will use as educational or research, however you cannot claim it as your own. All UK librarys have that notice or something like that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
questionmark Posted January 3, 2014 #10 Share Posted January 3, 2014 On here we don't claim ownership of any material posted by forum members, I can't speak for how it is on any other sites though. If you post a photo here that you've taken then we couldn't do anything with it without your permission, the image is still yours. Where we have to add: publishing something on this (or other) forum could demonstrate your copyright by means of the time-stamp. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrLzs Posted January 4, 2014 #11 Share Posted January 4, 2014 (edited) What they all said.. and if push comes to shove, it all comes back to whether you can prove it is your original work.. It may sound strange, but one way to ensure you have proof of ownership of your imagery is to email it to yourself! You could maybe shrink the image/s down to still-recognisable thumbnails (say 300x300 pixels depending on content) and archive them into a zip file to keep the email size down. Keep the email, obviously! The general format for a copyright message on an image is like this: Copyright 2014 Yourname or © 2014 Yourname ..but you won't lose a case if you vary it - it's all about whether you can prove authorship. My experience with my own images (I run a photographic website in my real persona) is that people will steal your images if they are good (!). If they do it for non-commercial reasons, you should email them and thank them for their interest, then ask them to link back to your site if they haven't already done so. If they do it for commercial reasons, then email them details of your ownership and ask them nicely to cease.. or you will take legal action. If they have changed your image.. it all becomes complicated and if whichever of the first two methods applies doesn't work, find a good Queen's Counsel.. (joking - a lawyer who knows copyright will do) Note that if your images are on the web at large sizes, then you are really inviting them to be used by others. If you keep them under, say, a few hundred pixels and only provide full res versions on request, then they will be of limited commercial usefulness.. it all depends on the type of images and what you want to do with them, and what you want others to do with them. You can, of course, slap a big annoying and intrusive Copyright message right across the image using any decent image editor.. but then your own images suffer and you might look like a bit of a tool.. BTW I've never had someone refuse a polite request to do the right thing.. yet.. and I do check every few months using Google's image search on my 'popular' ones.. Edited January 4, 2014 by ChrLzs 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now