Is it legal to put copyright on your work?

Help with artwork, patent, copyright?

• Okay I have a LOT of artwork, roughly 100 to 150 pieces. Drawings, Ink work, Charcoal, color, paintings etc. Some on posterboard, some on notebook paper, others on computer done in photoshop and/or paint, some on sketchbook paper, and some on printer paper. I am trying to come up with two things, a logo, and a copyright. Does is do any justice to just put on my artwork Copyright 2010 C.(my name) or does that do nothing, or is it even legal? I am trying to find the most cost effecient method as I'm a college kid and near broke, but I am putting or have put a lot of my artwork out there, on deviantart, my facebook page, elfwood art, myspace, livejournal, etc. Same goes for my poems and literary works. help? cheap fast easy copyright/patent

• Answer:

  You should ALWAYS register your artwork and literary works with the copyright office. Registered works provide substantial proof of ownership and more protection in the court of law, especially if someone steals or uses your work without permission. It is not required to register your work with the Copyright Office because the creator of the work is the official copyright owner, BUT if I'm not mistaken, if you want to sue for damages when someone violates the copyright laws, your artwork must be registered. Also, I think you can register all of your works as a collection for one set price, and not register each work individually which would cost alot of money. Check out the "U.S. Copyright Office" official website for more information! I don't think you need to patent your work but check out the "United States Patent And Trademark Office" official website for more information! How To Protect Your Images On The Internet: 1. Watermark your images with the copyright notice and your name (or website address). Even if you don't register your work with the copyright office, this notice can still be used and it prevents people from using the "innocent infringement" defense in court because the work wasn't properly marked. The copyright notice lets people know that the image is copyrighted and not in the public domain to freely use. If you live in the USA, your watermark can look like one of the following examples. Also, the year is the year of first publication of the work. © 2010 John Doe Copr. 2010 John Doe Copyright 2010 John Doe 2. Never post a high resolution of your image (large image) on the internet! People can use these images for money making! Always post a low resolution image (small image) on the internet! It is hard to print a good quality picture when the image is small because when you try to enlarge it, the image will generally become blurry. 3. Your website should clearly state that all of your images are protected by copyright and should not be posted on other websites. If you do allow people to post your art on their website, make sure your website tells people to credit you as the artist, by including your name and website address next to your image. 4. You can disable right click of the mouse which prevents people from using copy and save feature. 5. You can enable right click of the mouse but when a person tries to copy or save the image only a blank image will be saved, it's called spaceball.gif and clear.gif 6. You can use a Flash program/software which prevents people from using copy and save feature. Please note that you can do the following things mentioned above to protect your images, but people who are computer savvy still know how to get around these roadblocks. There are tons of questions and answers on the internet asking how to remove watermarks and how to copy/save images (generally, people want to use the image to post on their website). But despite that, you should ALWAYS use the methods mentioned above to protect your images, especially using the copyright notice and posting low resolution images!