Legal Question in Business Law in Florida

Copyrights are created from the moment the work is fixed in a medium (e.g. when the photo is taken). However, in order to sue for damages, one must register the work with the Copyright Office. So, yes, if you want to protect each picture and have the ability to sue someone for infringement damages, you have to register each one with the Copyright Office.

I'm not sure what you think incorporation would do to protect your photos. The corporation may be the owner of the photos, and the corporation may have greater resources to protect the photos. The corporation may shield you from personal liability if anyone sues you for an issue with the photos. But, incorporation does not afford any greater protection of intellectual property.

Another thing that comes to mind as far as being "ripped off" is to make sure all your contracts are carefully reviewed by an attorney. You may create "works for hire" for other entities, and through a contract, you can limit the rights which you are assigning/licensing to the other entity. Assignment/licensing of copyrights are not an "all or nothing" proposition, but if you just accept the contract from the other entity without review, the contract is almost certainly skewed in their favor, and you may be unnecessarily giving up rights which you could otherwise retain.

Copyright automatically attaches to all of your photographs the moment you snap a picture with your camera. However, in order to protect your photographs and sue a major corporation in federal court, you must first register the photographs with the US Copyright Office.

It is NOT necessary that you file separate federal copyright applications for each photograph. With one application and filing fee, you can apply to register a single photograph or an entire collection of photographs. As a note: Published and unpublished photographs cannot be registered on the same application.

I highly recommend that you contact an Intellectual Property Attorney to discuss the many requirements for protecting your entire portfolio of photographs

THE COMMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE FOR GENERAL INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY- NOT AS LEGAL OPINION. NO ATTORNEY/CLIENT RELATIONSHIP HAS BEEN ESTABLISHED.