how copyright protect boat design images?

[gp333]

how simplest and cheapest copyright protect boat design images worldwide?

any help?

[clmanges]

Copyright is yours, legally (in some countries), as soon as you produce the image in a fixed medium. Contact the copyright office for the appropriate form to register it with.

In the meantime, you need proof that you were the first one to have made this image. You can do this for free, and it's nearly foolproof, although it may be difficult to recover that proof later.

Simply send it to yourself as an email attachment. The email server stamps the item with a date-and-time stamp, which would be very difficult to manipulate or fake by someone wishing to steal your material.

Be sure to print a hard copy of the email and its attachment, and store this securely. Then, get the official registration (probably $20 for US copyrights).

[Luckless]

Originally Posted by clmanges

Copyright is yours, legally (in some countries), as soon as you produce the image in a fixed medium. Contact the copyright office for the appropriate form to register it with.

In the meantime, you need proof that you were the first one to have made this image. You can do this for free, and it's nearly foolproof, although it may be difficult to recover that proof later.

Simply send it to yourself as an email attachment. The email server stamps the item with a date-and-time stamp, which would be very difficult to manipulate or fake by someone wishing to steal your material.

Be sure to print a hard copy of the email and its attachment, and store this securely. Then, get the official registration (probably $20 for US copyrights).

Sadly, the random methods of "poor man's copyright" are bull. Mailing things to yourself is not a means of establishing copyright, emailing is even worse. Digital data is very easy to tamper with after all.

[PAR]

In most countries, you need to have a circle C symbol on the work AND have applied for copyright, to be afforded any protection.

Ultimately it's worthless, if you can't afford to defend the copyright. Copyright protection is only effective if you can withstand a litigation battle, which typically run about 7 years in legal fees. If you can't do this, you can only hope the circle C symbol will scare off potential copiers.

[Alik]

I wonder how some designers put copyright on every small sheet of paper. Actually, image of boat has no value without building plans, calculations, specifications, etc.

If You don't want images of boat 'stolen' - just don't publish them. This is the cheapest and simplest way to keep copyright

[Ad Hoc]

If you're talking about a picture, just a picture.....if you take the picture, you own that picture and can do whatever you like with it.

If you acquired the picture/image from another source, such as the Internet, then it gets a bit tricky, but unless there is a "copyright" of sorts (in small print refering to the image), it is open season.

[Wynand N]

then again, nothing is new anymore
Boats are as old as man himself and everything had been tried, thought out somewhere in the past. Many a new "innovations" are actually old cheese. Only reason not done before was the lack of technology and materials at the time.

and a boat look like a boat, like a boat, like a boat....

[Chris Ostlind]

A copyright is pretty easy to get on your original work. Here in the USA, the info is available from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) The rules are fairly straight-forward.

I've been a professional photographer for more than 35 years now and the copyright business has become routine in my work.

In this day and age of the Internet, there is stuff flying all over the place and this rights thing may look to be very confusing. It's all about recognizing that the ownership of an original work rests with he who creates the work... until and unless he sells, or gives away, the rights in writing.

If the conflict is International in scope, it all comes down to the acknowledgement of the various countries to honor the copyright claims of other nations. Obtaining a copyright in each and every nation would be absolutely mind-boggling. Enforcing said copyright would become a lifelong task.

Of the posts here on the topic, PAR has it as close as one can get. If you have neither the time nor the money to pursue a legal action, then ultimately, the whole deal is just a pretty sheet of paper.

A copyright holder does not "have to" put the circle c mark on all their work to be protected. It's nice to have it that way if you are going off to court as it makes for more of a hammer-down scenario, but it is not necessary. The claim of original, creative work is implied and protectable as long as you make the application with the USPTO and sometimes, even when you do not.

It is not OK to nab someone's good works without permission. Just because you see it on the Internet, does not mean you can just swipe the imagery. I know, people do it all the time and it seems like it's just peachy..... but, it isn't.

It's especially not correct if you are using the imagery to benefit yourself, or your company, for monetary gain. Savvy individuals and companies that do post their pictures on the Web, do so with the full knowledge that their work is going to get nabbed and probably splattered all over the place. It's a quasi-marketing effort that, hopefully, gets their work out in the public domain where it can generate some buzz.

As an image-maker, I have to understand that I'll probably see my work in the craziest applications once I sell it to a client. For this reason, I can choose to sell blanket rights for imagery use to the customer and then forget about the way it is being mushed around after the fact. If there is a claim of infringement, then it must be brought by the party that has purchased the rights from me. Most folks in my business refer to this as a Total Buyout. It's very common when dealing with a publishing company that may want to use the picture for other publications than the one that is the primary purpose of the shoot.

It's just, oh-so-easy, to write to the guy who created the image and ask if you can use it on your website to illustrate an idea. If he's any kind of decent guy and IF you aren't going to be making a killing through the use of his picture, he'll probably say, "Sure, go ahead" in a return email. He'll probably ask for a small, "Image courtesy of" caption under the picture and everything is cool.

[Zed]

Originally Posted by PAR

In most countries, you need to have a circle C symbol on the work AND have applied for copyright, to be afforded any protection.

Not in Australia, copyright is yours by virtue of creation of the original work, nothing needs to be done. Proving that you where the originator of the work maybe another issue but if you can establish that the rights are yours under common law.

[urbanvoyage]

Hi Gp333,

There are some interesting developments in the pipeline related to international copyrights. As I understand it under current US law, a "Copyright" is created when a work is fixed in a tangible form of expression, you don't have to register your work for it to be protected, however registration is required for legal action.

Next point to consider is that in the US the author of the work is the owner of the work unless you have assigned your rights in writing to someone else (e.g. an Employer). The adding of the © is also recommended.

For projects that are sensitive, we use Non-Disclosure Agreements that typically protect both parties' IP rights and the release of confidential information. These are not expensive to establish and provide solid ground-work for any business relationship.

My last point would be how expensive is the enforcement of any copyright/IP claim? More often than not the larger company with money to spend on expensive lawyers will win. Prevention in this case is the best cure.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Regards,
Rich

[Zed]

Yes, sadly its theory really --> at the end of the day --> "We have the best legal system that money can buy!"

[CTMD]

Originally Posted by Zed

Not in Australia, copyright is yours by virtue of creation of the original work, nothing needs to be done. Proving that you where the originator of the work maybe another issue but if you can establish that the rights are yours under common law.

You go on believing that:

Burge Vs Swarbrick

[Zed]

Originally Posted by CTMD

You go on believing that:

Burge Vs Swarbrick

Its what I was told in a full day training session by specialists in the area. They got right into the specific details of it as it pertained to the content we where publishing online in the 90's, which had some twists because we had customer supplied content which impacted our rights over the publication.

If you know better why not state what you think is reality instead of taking a passive aggressive girly swipe!

[CTMD]

Did you click the link in my post? In australia if your design has any leaning towards function over form (ie has a purpose beyond looking good) then you have no automatic coverage. Basically what this means is that if you post an image of a design then no-one can reproduce the image but unless its a registered design you can't stop anyone actually building a boat that looks identical to it.

[Zed]

That sounds to me like there is a basic misunderstanding of what copyright was intended to protect, I have always believed manufacturing is stepping outside of the purview of copyright, it has always been about publishing material (in my experience!). What I stated is, as far as I am aware, is true and relevant to the OPs question, I however made no claim of copyright protecting you from people ripping of your design and building similar or even identical. I don't know anything about that! Is there not some sort of design registration process that sits at a lower level than patent? If not, it sounds due --> maybe its something the BIA should consider doing --> I could make some comment about them but I long since gave up on that organisation, maybe things are better these days!