Tbeaux said:OK hmmm,
All you legal wannabees answer me this... if a newspaper or magazine photog takes a pic of Joe and Jimbo beating the sh*t out of each other in the middle of a public street with $5000.00 Bushkas can he print the pic without a model release or does he have to bail them both outta jail and get them to sign one?
And if he doesn't have to can I then post the pic onthis forum???
Terry ( who'll never own a Bushka)
I believe this is incorrect. We had a long thread on this recently. The man who took the picture owns the copywrite automatically. No registration has to occur.1pRoscoe said:
Fred Agnir said:
nipponbilliards said:
JellyBean said:
Fred Agnir said:
td873 said:I don't want to give out free legal advice: but there are a couple of things that I wanted to clarify, and also some information that those interested in copyrights should be aware of.
Of course, do not construe any of this as legal advice, you should always retain independent counsel when dealing with legal matters. With that said:
One important point is that owning a copyright in a work is distinct from enforcing it.
Works are considered copyrighted when they are fixed, i.e., placed in a sufficiently permanent tangible medium (see 17 U.S.C §101 - aka 1976 Copyright Act. All statutory references refer to 17 U.S.C. unless otherwise noted)
Generally, you must register your work BEFORE you can sue in federal court. Your damages may be affected based on the date you register and the date of the infringement. Although your rights in the work vest immediately after fixation, your rights to a DAMAGES are governed by the Copyright Act. § 411 (for example, actual damages, lost profits, statutory damages, attorney's fees etc.) [Additional requirement may benefit international publication under the Berne convention.]
I.e., it is beneficial to register your copyrighted material in order to preserve all of your rights - including the right to sue for statutory damages and attorney's fees! § 411 et. seq., and §501 et. seq. Statutory damages range from $200 - $30,000 based on the egregiousness of the infringement (§504(c)). An infringement action may cost in excess of $10,000, so getting attorney's fees is a HUGE plus! (If your case gets really big, it is possible to spend over $250,000 a month...)
There is a 3 year statute of limitations (§ 507). But you may have a 'rolling' deadline based on continuing infringement.
The duration of a copyright is generally life of the author plus 70 years (but may vary based on the date of fixation/publication) See § 301 et seq.
Just some info to keep in mind...
-td
td873 said:I don't want to give out free legal advice: but there are a couple of things that I wanted to clarify, and also some information that those interested in copyrights should be aware of.
Of course, do not construe any of this as legal advice, you should always retain independent counsel when dealing with legal matters. With that said:
One important point is that owning a copyright in a work is distinct from enforcing it.
Works are considered copyrighted when they are fixed, i.e., placed in a sufficiently permanent tangible medium (see 17 U.S.C §101 - aka 1976 Copyright Act. All statutory references refer to 17 U.S.C. unless otherwise noted)
Generally, you must register your work BEFORE you can sue in federal court. Your damages may be affected based on the date you register and the date of the infringement. Although your rights in the work vest immediately after fixation, your rights to a DAMAGES are governed by the Copyright Act. § 411 (for example, actual damages, lost profits, statutory damages, attorney's fees etc.) [Additional requirement may benefit international publication under the Berne convention.]
I.e., it is beneficial to register your copyrighted material in order to preserve all of your rights - including the right to sue for statutory damages and attorney's fees! § 411 et. seq., and §501 et. seq. Statutory damages range from $200 - $30,000 based on the egregiousness of the infringement (§504(c)). An infringement action may cost in excess of $10,000, so getting attorney's fees is a HUGE plus! (If your case gets really big, it is possible to spend over $250,000 a month...)
There is a 3 year statute of limitations (§ 507). But you may have a 'rolling' deadline based on continuing infringement.
The duration of a copyright is generally life of the author plus 70 years (but may vary based on the date of fixation/publication) See § 301 et seq.
Just some info to keep in mind...
-td
nipponbilliards said:
td873 said:A statute of limitations is a time limit in place to prevent someone from bringing an action after too long has passed (and memories have faded, evidence is lost, etc)
A 3 year statute of limitations for copyright infringement means that you have to bring an action for infringement within 3 years of the infringing activity. A "rolling" deadline typically deals with ongoing infringement that began more than 3 years ago, or an infringment that began more than 3 years ago and ended less than 3 years ago, i.e., there was some infringement within the last 3 years. For example, if someone copied your book 4 years ago, and made copies for 2 years, you could most likely still sue for 1 year of damages. [Otherwise you would be barred from suing since the infringing activity started 4 years ago]. Or, as another example, if someone copied your picture for the last 10 years, you could most likely sue for the last 3 years, but not years 4-10.
Again, you should always retain independent counsel for your legal matters. (gotta say that
nipponbilliards said:
