Copyright

[ The following text was written by Ed Greenberg, P.C., and is reproduced verbatim and with permission. ]

Google the above phrase or any of its permutations, e.g. “You’ll never shoot another job”, ”Now no one will ever hire you” and so on and you will get thousands of hits. The cliché, in one form or another, manifests when a creator, whose work has been infringed or whose bills have not been paid, has the temerity to express the intent to hire a lawyer.

Attorney Bert P. Krages II is also a photographer. He wrote a free, one-page, downloadable PDF that outlines your rights as a photographer in the event you are ever confronted for taking photographs. He calls this page The Photographer's Right. Mr. Krages is also the author of a book on the very same subject called Legal Handbook for Photographers.

As a music photographer, you depend on displaying sample photographs on your web site to document events you have photographed and to demonstrate your creative and technical skills. Displaying images on the Internet has its risks, the greatest of them being copyright infringement.

This article is a five-part series that guides you through what to do before infringement occurs, how to collect evidence after it occurs, how to document that evidence, who to contact and what actions you can take, and what to expect during the process. At the end is an extensive list of links to other resources on the internet that also may help you, including links to registration tutorials and to copyright legislation in numerous countries around the world.

You may find these additional resources of benefit in protecting and defending your rights as a copyright owner.