Happy New Year - Time to change the copyright notice in your camera!

Happy New Year. I hope it's a healthy, happy and prosperous new year for you and your family.

It's January 1^st so it's time to reset the copyright notice in your camera(s) to reflect the new year, so your 2017 images will have the correct information.

Most digital cameras today, can automatically insert your copyright notice into the metadata of every image you make as they are stored. Each of my cameras have been reset this morning to insert “Copyright © 2017 NSL Photography. All Rights Reserved.” into every image I make.

If you haven't been inserting your copyright notice in your images, to date, to protect them, I suggest you consider start doing it today.

I'm often asked the question when I run workshops, or anytime I'm with enthusiasts and we're talking photography, “You're a pro, so I understand why you place your copyright on your photos, but why should I worry about it? I'm not selling my photographs, nor using them in my work.”

It's a great question.

National Press Photographers gravely concerned about "orphan works" - copyright proposal

The National Press Photographer’s Association (NPPA) has submitted comments on the issue of orphan works and mass digitalization, with the US Copyright Office, to advise Congress on how to address current issues involving copyrights and orphan works.

The comments, written by NPPA attorneys Mickey Osterreicher and Alicia Calzada, with contributions from others at NPPA, discuss the myriad of issues currently facing visual journalists regarding their copyrighted images, and offer proposed solutions for creating a system which would treat copyright holders and users of orphaned works fairly and efficiently.

NPPA stated in its comments that it “is gravely concerned that in seeking to address the frustration of ‘good faith users’ of Orphan Works in order to cure their potential liability and ‘gridlock in the digital marketplace,’ the Copyright Office may create a far more serious problem for authors/owners of visual works.”

How do I register my image's copyright and what can I do if it's violated?

In Part I of my copyright series, “I'm not a "Pro." Why should I worry about copyrighting my photos?” I discussed why both professional and amateur photographers, and even weekend vacationers should seriously consider taking measures to raise the level of their copyright and other protection for their photographs.

In Part II of the series, “What do photographers need to do to protect and document their copyright?” I discussed practical suggestions to protect your photos and establish your copyright firmly.

In this last article of the series, I discuss copyright registration in the US, how and when you can, and why you should, register your photographs, and if your copyright is violated, what remedies registration extends to you, that you otherwise wouldn't have.

You can submit your photographs to the US Copyright Office, part of the US Library of Congress, via postal mail, or online. If you register your photographs by postal mail you don't have to print each image, but can submit them on CD. You can register your photographs whether already published, or still unpublished. Your photographs are eligible to have their copyrights registered the moment you make them.

What do photographers need to do to protect and document their copyright?

In Part I of my copyright series, “I'm not a "Pro." Why should I worry about copyrighting my photos?” I discussed why both professional and amateur photographers, and even weekend vacationers should seriously consider taking measures to raise the level of their copyright and other protection for their photographs.

In this article, the series continues with practical suggestions to protect your photos and establish your copyright firmly. In the next, (last) article in the series, I will discuss copyright registration in the US, how and when you can, and why you should, register your photographs, and if your copyright is violated, what remedies registration extends to you, that you otherwise wouldn't have.