Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California
Protection of a set of drawings
I am an artist (composer and graphics artist) and want to use a scanner on a set of pen and ink drawings to incorporate on line. How can I protect them, or at least, make sure that the attribution of them will be registered to me?
They are very characteristic in themselves, and I do not want them to be stolen. I don't mind if they are copied, just not attributed to someone else ultimately.
Do I make copies and send them somewhere, with a fee? Can I do this, on line?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Protection for Images Posted on the Web
The good news is that under U.S. law, a drawing is automatically protected by copyright as soon as it is made. To enhance the protection, the owner can do a couple of things. First: include a copyright notice on the image, generally an encircled-C, the name of the owner, and the year the image is first published. Second: register the drawing with the Copyright Office in Washington, D.C. on Form VA. See http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ for forms and further information on copyright.
Beyond that, one could look into using certain technologies known as "digital watermarking." Companies such as NEC and Digimark have developed techniques for coding information into image files that identifies the creator of the file. For the latest info, do a search on Alta Vista or other search engine for "digital watermark."
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