Photography is a hobby to some, but a way of making a living to others. The internet has become a necessary tool for sharing photography, but it makes protecting your work more difficult.

Knowing who can access your photographs and how they’re being used is essential in keeping your work from being stolen. This can easily become a nightmare to photographers that don’t know how to protect themselves. There are certain steps to take that will greatly reduce the risk of plagiarism and use without consent.

photo by woodleywonderworks

Tragically the easiest way to consent to giving away your work without ever knowing it is the dreaded user agreement. We have all been guilty of just clicking that “I agree” button without reading the first line. As a photographer submitting your work to a website it is essential that you take the time to read this document. Many websites have a clause that says anything you upload to their website is free for them to use in any way they see fit. It will not be stated in such layman’s terms, but it essentially means you have signed away the rights to that piece of work.

If you’re anything like me than all that legal jargon might as well be written in a foreign language, for all I know I could be agreeing to a recipe for soup. Luckily for those of us who are not lawyers there are other steps we can take to protect ourselves from this pitfall. Look into the website’s FAQ, many websites will have their more questionable terms spelled out for you. If the website has a forum page this can also be a good source of information. Don’t be afraid to post questions about any terms that make you uncomfortable.

Registering Your Copyrights

The most important step is to register your pictures with the U. S. copyright office. This ensures that the photographer is given all credits and allows legal action to be taken when necessary. This process involves completing the application, paying a registration fee, and submitting a nonreturnable copy of your works. This copyright is valid for 70 years past your death. It’s cheaper to complete this process online at www.copyright.gov. It’s possible to register all of your published photographs in one submission application. Before filling out your application contact the Visual Arts Division for approval.

Copyrighting an image takes care of any legal issues that may pop up, but does not discourage anyone from stealing. The next step is to make it known that your work is protected. Adding a copyright notice to an image will greatly discourage theft.

Copyright Notice

There are three parts to an official copyright notice. The first is a copyright symbol (©); this can be created by holding down the ctrl key and typing 0169 or inserting from a symbols legend. This is followed by the year the photograph was taken or published. The copyright is then concluded with the author’s name. If you were to come across one of my images you would see “(© 2013 Sheena Koontz)” at the bottom-right corner. I can use this on any of my photography even if it’s not registered with the U. S. Copyright Office.

Note the bottom right hand corner of the image in the screenshot above. Several benefits can come from adding a copyright notice to an image. The mark reminds potential thieves that this legally belongs to the author. The image would have to be cropped or digitally altered to remove the copyright. If the image was stolen and legal action was taken they could not claim ignorance thus increasing the penalty of the crime.

Watermarks

Another solution to prevent theft is adding a watermark to your image. A watermark is an image that is digitally added over top of the original picture. The watermark can be anything from a logo design to a copyright notice. In the screenshot below note the writing across the image. This does not give the image any legal standing, but does wonders to protect theft.

The argument against watermarks is that some photographers feel it distracts too much from the image. One solution to this problem is using your signature as your watermark. It’s not uncommon to see an author’s signature somewhere on the image when being sold as a print or displayed in a gallery. If you decide to use this method I recommend creating your own signature brush in Photoshop.

Some sites will allow you to disable the right click and save option on an image. This is a very simple measure that can be taken to prevent less tech savvy thieves. Some sites also allow you to change the permission settings for photo sharing. Most of these sites are defaulted to share with everyone unless you specify otherwise.

Action Against Infringement

Despite your best efforts, someone has started posting your images all over the internet. It may just be some overzealous fan that wants to share your work with the world. It could be a thief that declared ownership of one of your favorite photographs. Regardless of the situation you probably want them to stop and have all works removed from anywhere you didn’t authorize use.

One option is to send a Cease-and-Desist letter to the thief directly. This is a letter that states they are using one of your copyrighted images without your consent and you would like to resolve the issue. Depending on the situation you may want the images taken down or for proper credit to be given for your work. The letter can also state what actions you plan to take if they do not cooperate with your request. Usually this letter is enough to scare the infringer into complying.

If the Cease-and-Desist letter doesn’t get the response you expected try sending a DCMA take down notice to the website’s hosting company or ISP. A quick whois search will give you the information you need to contact the ISP. This notice must be in writing, contain the author’s signature, contact information, the name of the piece that is being used without permission, and state that you are contacting them in “good faith” and “under penalty of perjury, that the information contained in the notification, is accurate”. Further information about a DCMA notice can be found here.

For best practices do a little research on the website before submitting your work. Read the fine lines of any contest you enter. If you work does get stolen take action, but also acknowledge that it’s a compliment. Be flattered that they like your work, but don’t let them get away with it.