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There are many ways that artist and publishers can help prevent infringements. They may be practical, common sense techniques, technological and/or legal. Logo Overprints: We find that many infringing items originate by third parties scanning our members tear-sheets, advertisements and publications. One technological way to slow down an infringer and more importantly to make it easy to identify an infringing work is by using various types of watermarks. While there are a number of sophisticated techniques which are available from commercial companies you can simply take your logo and overprint it on top of an image as seen in the example below. 
Then use the overprint on all uses of the image except the actual item sold as a consumer product. If some one makes a direct copy of the overprinted material it will be easy to identify it is an infringement. If through computer manipulation they attempt to remove the logo, they will never get the space covered by the logo exactly right. It will by simple to spot those works as infringements even after they have been manipulated by a computer. Specialty Papers: There are papers which are commercially available, which if one tries to photostat or scan render the resulting image to be either blacked out or having hidden words appear effectively ruining the product. One source for these papers is Document Security and you can find their website at www.documentsecutiry.com. (This information is merely being provided by way of an example and as a convenience. The ACC does not recommend one product or another nor have they researched these products.) 
Web-based Applications: If you are worried about other people obtaining your images online then you can protect your images with web-based applications such as Image Armor that prevent your artwork from illegally being copied or accessed (no downloads, no screen dumps no printouts). These applications enable artists to publish artwork on the web without the fear of theft or reproduction. Image Armor utilizes Digital Rights Management to invisibly secure electronic content on the web. It is designed to prevent the unauthorized access, copying, or duplication of such content without expressed permission. You can find Image Armor at, www.imagearmor.com. (This information is merely being provided by way of an example and as a convenience. The ACC does not recommend one product or another nor have they researched these products.) Aggressive Enforcement: Confronting infringers and letting them know you are aware of their activities and taking affirmative actions against them, and particularly their customers, can help reduce the infringements. Ignoring infringements hoping they go away is self-defeating. We all know that infringing activities won't go away, however, by pressuring infringers, even if they do not stop infringing generally you can shift their activities to other less aggressive entities. It might be like squeezing a balloon. But at least your company's works won't be infringed upon. If you build a reputation in the community of being aggressive, assertive in protecting your works it works wonders.  A little word of mouth goes a long way. Copyright Registration: For all work sold in the United States registering your copyrights is an incredibly effective tool in preventing copyright infringement. If and only if a copyright is registered before an infringement occurs are you entitled to have your attorneys fees paid by the other side if you prevail. You can also obtain statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringement. If you haven't registered your copyright at all you are precluded from filing a suit of any kind. If one registers after they become aware of an infringement, while they can file suit they are limited to actual damages which are the royalties you might have lost and the profits of the infringer attributable to the infringement. If the infringement is vast and successful, then there might be a large pot at the end of the rainbow. However, if you had caught the infringement earlier on or it is just of a modest size, the cost of prosecuting your claim can exceed your recovery. Infringers know this, and go after those images that they believe are not registered knowing that it's not going to be worth your while to go after then. It provides them with de facto immunity. Filing copyright registrations is inexpensive and simple. An application costs only $30. It might be useful to have an attorney assist on the first application to prevent errors. However, by and larger this is not an activity in which you need to hire legal counsel (except, if there are issues as to work for hire or derivative works). If a work is not published (has not been offered for sale) you can register multiples images on a single application with just one $30 fee. The copyright office website is full of free useful information and advice and has answers to almost any question you could conceive of. They also have the forms you need, which are downloadable. 
Their web is www.copyright.gov . Also, our general counsel, Joshua Kaufman, Esq. has published numerous articles on copyright registration and its benefits. They can be found at his website, www.jjkaufman.com. |
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