For a long time I have been under the misconception that I had to print all my images to send to the US Copyright Office to have them protected under a registered copyright. Due to this misconception I have always put the task off due to the sheer cost of printing all the images I needed to file. Well, I was wrong; it is very simple and cheap to do!

I spoke with the Copyright Office last week and found that submitting all the images on CD in JPEG format was all that was needed. Well, stupid me. So I went through my files and picked out all the images that needed to be filed and converted them from RAW into JPEG files. I burned them all to CD, filled out a few forms, and off it went in the mail along with $45 (I registered everything in a single collection). Within the next 6 months I should receive a letter from the Copyright Office detailing the registration of all my images. It didn’t take more than an hour to get the peace of mind I have needed over the last 8 years!

So, for all the photographers out there, go to the Copyright Office website and get the information you need to file your copyright. Now that I am all caught up I will be filing a new collection in more frequent intervals to stay current. I will also be filing a small collection for any images that are going to be published widely or used for important projects. A copyright attorney informed me that it is better for the photographer to have small collections because the court will base its decision on whether the “entire collection was violated” by a person stealing one or more images. So, filing thousands of images in a single collection may not be the best protection but, as he said, it is better than nothing!

It is funny timing that Scott Kelby posted some videos of his interview with Ed Greenberg about copyright law on his blog. The video will be in the next Photoshop User TV episode. You can see his post and see the videos here.