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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Is your work protected?
Your artwork is automatically copyrighted as soon you create it. You do not need to register for a copyright to protect your work.
If you want your copyright to be on public record or if you want a registration certificate you can file a copyright registration online through the eCO Online System (US Electronic Copyright Office). You also need to register your work if you want to file a copyright enforcement lawsuit.
If someone changes my work can they use or claim copyright to it?
No one can use or claim copyright to your work without your permission, no matter how much they change it. If someone has taken your work and modified it with a graphics program, or in any other way, then they have created a derivative work that is infringing on your copyright.
What can I do if someone uses my work without my permission?
If your images are being used on another website and you want to take care of it yourself see: Stop Bandwidth and Image Theft
If your work is being used online and/or offline and you need professional advice see: Legal Assistance
How can I prevent image theft on my website?
Disable Right Clicking
Use .htaccess
Include a Copyright Notice
Use Smaller Images
Mark your Images
Use a Digital Watermark
Include a Copyright FAQ
Disable right clicking on your website. This is easy to do and it will stop the casual user from "borrowing" your images. It might be a good idea to use a script that disables right clicking on images only, I have used the following free scripts:
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 to prevent people from displaying your images on their website as well as stop people who have already linked to your images.
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 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 and upload an actual image named stolen.gif then whenever an unwanted site tries to link to one of your images, stolen.gif will be displayed instead.
You can be very creative in what you decide stolen.gif will be. For example make it an advertisement for you site, an educational message about copyright, or you can break page layouts with an invisible gif that is one pixel tall and 3000 pixels wide.
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 if you see .htaccess.txt simply rename the file. Then test by viewing your pages to make sure that images still display correctly on your site. 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 are free to copy and use the example below.
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
Include a Copyright FAQ. Some people don't mean any harm when they take your images, they just don't understand that what they are doing is wrong. They might even think that they're helping you by distributing and displaying your work.
You can help prevent honest people from making innocent mistakes by posting some educational material on your website. You are free to copy, modify and publish the following document on your website: Copyright FAQs (also includes a brief terms of use for your images)
How do I stop bandwidth and image theft?
Inform the Webmaster
Find and Contact the Host
Remove Violators from the Search Engines
Use .htaccess
How do I know if someone is stealing my images or my bandwidth?
Inform the webmaster of the copyright violation. If you find that your artwork and/or bandwidth has been stolen, the simplest solution is to email the webmaster and ask them to stop. 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
How to find and contact the host. If the site has no contact information, or if simply emailing the webmaster doesn't work, find out where the offending website is hosted and send an email to the host. Hosting companies are required by law to remove copyrighted content from their servers.
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 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.
Try a search at one of the urls below.
Whois Source 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 as 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 the DMCA (digital millennium copyright act).
Image Theft Example Letter for the Host
Never make a false copyright claim. Misrepresenting material as infringing could result in severe penalties including criminal prosecution.
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 search engines, asking them to remove the offending site.
For more information about filing a notice of infringement with Google see:
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
For Yahoo see: Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy
For MSN see: Procedure for Making Claims of Copyright Infringement
How do I know if someone is stealing my images or my 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. If you see sites other than search engines sending you a large amount of traffic, it's likely that they're not actually sending you any traffic at all, rather they are just loading you image over and over again causing multiple "hits" to your server.
Check those pages that are sending you the most traffic, if you see your images there 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.
You can also try searching for your name, your domain name, or the title of your image on Google Images.
Legal Assistance
For free and low cost legal services see: Legal Help for Artists
See below for more helpful resources, including forums where you can get free legal advice.
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.
Web Design and Site Review Services
ArtPromote provides professional, affordable website design for artists plus low cost website review services designed to help artists rank higher in the search engines and sell more art.
