There has been a growing trend over the course of many years now where photographers have been asked to sign contracts that contain predatory terms and conditions. Predatory terms and conditions in this article are any contract language that transfer your intellectual property to another party without fair compensation. In this article, several real-world examples are shown to educate you on what predatory language looks like.

UPDATE: Added more attachments.

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.

I found these rules on a music artist's fan page on a social networking site. I would like pointers to other similarly offensive photo contest rules. Post a link to the rules and name what section in the rules contains the offensive language. This will be helpful for every member of this community.

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 to 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.

This DMCA tutorial is a guide on how to utilize the Digital Millennium Copyright Act to get unauthorized uses of your images taken down from web sites.

After you discover unauthorized use of your photographs, collect and organize all the evidence, research license fees, and thoroughly document all the uses in your chart, it is time to take action. You may choose to approach the offender directly, or you may choose to turn your information over to your attorney and let them manage the case for you. Working directly with the offender is to your benefit for multiple reasons, but also has potential problems if not done properly.

Copyright laws provide legal protection for the author of a copyrighted work, or owner of the copyright. These laws put in writing the rights controlled by the copyright owner, and the penalties that can be imposed when those rights are violated. In order to get the maximum protection available under the law, take these steps before you become the victim of copyright infringement, and be disciplined about them.