Posts tagged copyright

From Portland to Portland: 4:33 minutes of fame

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Last month I was honored to be among the first participants in a whirlwind cross-country video “road trip” of creatives stretching from Portland Maine to the other Portland, some 2,500 miles away, in Oregon.

The Copyright Alliance is a non-profit organization that believes that copyright protection promotes creativity in any creative endeavor–writers to photographers, filmmakers to poets.  To raise awareness and–let’s be honest here–to get one heck of an ultimate road trip out of it to boot, executive director Patrick Ross is interviewing and videotaping creative types from coast to coast, then posting them on the Copyright Alliance site and on the Copyright Alliance YouTube channel.

Last month, Ross visited me in my Old Port studio where we talked about copyright issues, the value of personal projects and the need for continuing business education.   We had a good, albeit short visit as Ross had two other subjects to interview that day out of state.  I hope he enjoyed his brief visit to Portland, Maine–truly a place where creatives are an important part of the local culture and economy.

You can read the article and see additional videos from Maine and other states as they are posted on the Creators Across America section of the Creative Alliance website.   The work they do should be important to anyone who values the contributions of creative individuals.

Copyright Alliance comes to Maine

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Last month I got an interesting request from Patrick Ross, executive director of the Copyright Alliance.  This is a non-profit organization that promotes the intellectual property rights of artists (not just photographers, but artists of all stripes).   I recently wrote a post about the importance of copyright registration for photographers, and really am excited about the good work the CA is doing.

Now, I get the very cool opportunity to share my perspective as a Maine commercial photographer.   I’m honored that Ross will be conducting a video interview here at the spacious Fitzgerald Photo studio this week.   I guess that means I need to get a hair cut….

If you get the chance, check out the interactive map on the Copyright Alliance website, and see what other creatives are doing and saying.

Copyright registration: why it matters

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Misconceptions abound when it comes to copyright of intellectual property, especially photography. Photographers typically think that they automatically own the copyright to their work and thus are protected when their images are used without permission. This sense of security–while based in fact–is somewhat misplaced.

A comprehensive discussion of copyright law is a topic for another time. Suffice to say that there are many reasons why professional photographers (those making a living at photography and want to continue to do so in the future) should copyright their work: One is that the most you can collect for a copyright infringement is the value of the image itself if the image has not been registered with the US Copyright Office. If a registered work is infringed upon, lawyers fees and statutory damages may be collected. Two, having registered work gives the copyright holder protection and leverage when negotiating disputes with publishers of their work. This can help with resolving slow- or non-paying customer issues.

It’s recommended that any photographer copyright their work prior to distribution or publication. Clients who purchase copyright from photographers (the so-called ‘buy-out’) should consider registering the work they own as well. To find out more about why copyright registration is important, check out the explanation posted on the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP). It’s easy to register electronically at the US Copyright office. Lastly, there’s a great tutorial for photographers on the ASMP site on registering photography work online.