Copyright Help for Artists
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Important Disclaimer Please Read
I am a webmaster not a lawyer so this is not legal advice. If you want to be absolutely sure that the information you have is correct and applies to your situation then you will have to consult an actual lawyer. Also, if you are outside of the US then some of this information may not apply.
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There are only two types of artwork on the internet today:
Artwork that has been stolen and artwork that will be stolen.
Is your work protected? These days artwork is automatically copyrighted as soon you create it. It can be a drawing, painting, psd, jpg, or whatever, if you created it "from scratch" you own the copyright to it. So you don't have to register for a copyright but most authorities agree that it's a good idea to go ahead and register if you can. If you want to file a copyright enforcement lawsuit then you have to register your work with the Copyright Office first.
If someone has stolen your work and modified it with a graphics program, or in any other way, then they cannot use it or claim copyright to it. If you can still recognize the underlying form as your original work and you have not given them permission, then they have created a derivative work that is infringing on your copyright. This is illegal. See Cure for information that may help you if your copyright has already been infringed.
Prevention
Simple hints and tips that may help to prevent some types of copyright infringement.
Disable right clicking on your website. This is very easy to do and it will stop many people from "borrowing" your images. To do it, just search for "no right click" on Google. Then pick your favorite script and follow the directions. It might be a good idea to use a script that disables right clicking on images only, at the time of this writing free scripts like this were available at:
Disable Right Click
Disable Right Click - Images Only (does not work on hyperlinked images)
Use .htaccess to help prevent direct linking. This method will stop most people from linking to your images on your server. Direct linking to copyrighted images is copyright infringement and bandwidth theft, both of these things are illegal. You can use .htaccess as both a prevention and a cure.
For other methods see below under: Stop bandwidth and image theft.
It is easier than it looks...really, it is, you can do it.
Contact your webhost before you try .htaccess, as some hosts may require that you use a code that's different from the example that I have provided below, also the code simply won't work with some types of hosts.
To begin, copy the code below and paste it into a text editor (like notepad, not word or wordpad) and save it as: .htaccess That's a dot followed by htaccess in all lowercase letters, your machine might change it to .htaccess.txt and that's okay for now.
RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?yoursite.tld/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?yoursite.tld [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?anothersite.tld/ [NC]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(www\.)?anothersite.tld [NC]
RewriteRule \.(gif|jpg)$ http://www.yoursite.tld/stolen.gif [R,L]
Yes, REFERER is spelled correctly, (for this purpose) don't change it.
Next change all instances of yoursite.tld to your actual domain name. If there is another site where you want your images to be able to display then change both instances of anothersite.tld to the other sites actual domain name, if not then you can remove those two lines. If there is more than one other site where you want your images to display just add more lines of code.
Now notice in the last line of code where is says: http://www.yoursite.tld/stolen.gif (yoursite.tld should have been replaced with your actual domain name) You may not have an image in your directory named stolen.gif and that is fine, you don't need one. Without it, whenever an unwanted site tries to display one of your images by direct linking to it, a broken image will appear instead. If you create an actual image, name it stolen.gif, and upload it to your directory then whenever an unwanted site tries to link to one of your images, stolen.gif will be displayed instead. Cool, right?
Finally, upload the file in ascii mode into the folder(s) where your images are stored. Make sure that you don't overwrite a .htaccess file that is already there!
After you have uploaded your file, check to see that it is correctly named .htaccess not .htaccess.txt, then test your site again and again, with www, with out www, etc. If you are having problems, your host should be the first place to try and get help. You can also get answers in this helpful forum:
Webmaster World
Include a copyright notice on every page of your site. You may copy and use the one below if you wish.
Artist Copyright - All works of art within this web site are protected under U.S. copyright laws and international conventions. No portion of the artists works or statements may be used, downloaded, reproduced using any means, copied, linked to, or transferred electronically, without prior written permission from the artist.
Use smaller images on your website. Visitors to your site might try to download and print out your images, if you use large or high resolution images then the printouts will be of a higher quality. High quality printouts are easy to make into stickers, t-shirts, cards, etc.
You might prevent this by creating web graphics that are smaller by pixels and lower in resolution. A width of 200 or 300 pixels is good if you use a resolution that is a low as possible. If you want to show more detail, crop out small areas and make them into separate images.
Mark your images. Include a note on each image: Image© Example.com You can place it at the bottom of the image or make it semi-transparent and have it appear across the center of the image. This might stop the casual user but it probably won't stop anyone who wants to edit your artwork in a graphics program.
Use a digital watermark. Embed an invisible code in your digital images with a special kind of software. Invisible watermarks can identify you as the artist and copyright owner. Might come in handy if your images are stolen, for more information visit the link below.
Google Directory - Graphics Protection
Spread the word. Some of the people on the web don't mean any harm when they post your images in forums or make them into psp tubes, they are just unaware and truly don't understand that they are doing anything wrong. Sometimes they might even think that they are "helping" you by distributing and displaying your work. So it is probably a good idea to post some educational material on your website, this will stop honest people from making innocent mistakes. I have created a document called Copyright FAQs (also includes a brief terms of use for your images), you are free to copy this document and publish it on your site, if you like.
Information that may help you if your copyright has already been infringed.
Stop bandwidth and image theft. Is someone direct linking to your images, infringing on your copyright and stealing your bandwidth? To find out, you need to have access to your web logs. A good host will offer daily graphical stats (for easy reading). In your stats or logs area, look at the referrers to see where your traffic is coming from. Then check the pages that are sending you the most traffic. If you see your images on any of those pages, then your copyright is being infringed, if you check the source code and see a direct image link (img src="http://www.yoursite.tld/yourimage.jpg") then that site is also stealing your bandwidth.
When you find that your artwork and/or bandwidth has been stolen, the simplest thing to do is to email the webmaster and ask them to stop. Nine times out of ten this will work and it is the nicest way to deal with this type of problem. Click on the link below for examples of letters that you can send to the offending site, includes an example for a combination of copyright infringement and bandwidth theft, and an example for image theft only.
Bandwidth and Image Theft Example Letters
If simply emailing the webmaster doesn't work (or if your just not interested in being that nice). You should find out where the offending website is hosted and send an email to the host. Hosting companies are required by law to take these types of offensive websites offline.
Follow the directions below to find the host.
If the site is hosted at a free server like Angelfire, Geocities, Tripod or if your image is posted in a forum then you should send the letter to the free server or forum owner. For example if the url where your image is displayed looks similar to one of the following:
http://www.something.tld/JimBob/page11.html
or
http://www.something.tld/forums/topic92/
Then you should go to something.tld, read the terms of service page or the contact page and send the letter to the most appropriate email address.
If the site has a unique domain name like ArtPromote.com, you can find the host by making a whois search. Search at one of the urls below.
BetterWhoIs.com or sWhoIs.net
Want more places to do a whois? Google Directory - Name Search
When you do your whois search the hosting company will be appear something similar to this:
Name Server: NS1.FUTUREQUEST.NET
or
Domain servers in listed order: NS1.FUTUREQUEST.NET
In this case, to visit the hosting company you would go to: WWW.FUTUREQUEST.NET.
When you visit the hosting company, read the terms of service page or the contact page and send the letter to the most appropriate email address. Some hosting companies will have their own sample letter, if that is the case you should use theirs, if not click on the link below for an example letter that you can send to them. The example letter contains all of the information that is required by DMCA (digital millennium copyright act).
Image Theft Example Letter for the Host
I know no one visiting this site would ever misrepresent material as infringing but you may have an acquaintance that would and that person should know that they could be severely penalized maybe even subject to criminal prosecution for knowingly making false copyright claims.
Remove violators from the search engines. Search engines might remove or disable access to sites that are infringing on a copyright. You can send DMCA notifications to the major search engines and directories, asking them to remove their links to the offending site. At the time of this writing the following site had detailed information about how to go about: Sending DMCA Notifications
Get a lawyer. Of course you can always hire a lawyer and in some cases that would be the smartest thing to do, especially (I think) if the offender is making money from your art. Below are many more helpful resources, including forums where you can get free legal advice.
Good Luck!
More Resources:
DMCA
(pdf) The digital millennium copyright act of 1998.
RightsForArtists.com
Lots of resources and information about copyright and protecting your rights. Also includes more free example letters.
DACS
A not-for-profit membership organisation which exists to promote and protect the copyright of visual creators in the UK and worldwide.
StarvingArtistsLaw.com
Self help legal information for artists and writers.
ArtsLaw.org
A collection of articles designed to help artists of all disciplines protect their rights before problems arise.
LawGuru.com
Submit a question to this forum, if your question is accepted and attorney will post and answer to the question for free. Could take up to 15 days for an answer.
WorldLawDirect.com
Ask a question and receive an answer from an attorney within 24 hours.
ArtBusiness.com - Articles
Several articles for artists, includes copyright issues and more.
Free Legal Advice
Law site with easy to understand answers to legal questions from lawyers, it is free to post a question in the forum.
Copyright in Visual Arts
Copyright information for craftspersons, graphics artists, photographers and the like.
