Copyright Ownership

How do you prove that you are the copyright owner?

[proboscis]

Hello,

So far (knock wood) I have had no problems in having my stolen images and text removed from offending sites. But I was just thinking, what if someone objects? How would I actually prove that I am the real owner?

Do I have to print out thousands of pages and mail them to myself? Or how do people do this these days?

Sorry, I am sure this has been gone over before, but I didn't find it. Thanks :)

[crescenta]

The most sure-fire way that I know of is to register the work with the copyright office.

Another thing I've been curious about, though--let's say you have created a visual work (a photograph or a painting) and you still own the original negative or painting. And let's say that someone else publishes it, violating your copyright (because you never sold or gave away the copyright). And let's say the copyright violater has a lot of gall and tries to claim that they own the copyright or got permission to publish, even though they don't have access to the original work. Is the fact that you still own the original (negative or painting) and the fact that they have no physical proof that you sold copyright to them (in the form of a contract) enough evidence for your side? Or could someone conceivably bluff their way through and say "I know that they own the original, and I know that they created the original, and I know that I can offer no evidence that they sold me copyright, but I still own it!"

I cannot imagine such a thing happening, or at least I cannot imagine someone trying it and getting it to stick. Am I wrong? Could a court really let someone get away with this (assuming that both parties had enough money to go to court and fight it out)?

[kevinpate]

as to the old tale of mailing it to yourself, do a search on the phrase poor man's copyright.
You'll find lots of info, including scads of prior discussions here at webmasterworld, including:
[webmasterworld.com...]

[BigDave]

Or could someone conceivably bluff their way through and say "I know that they own the original, and I know that they created the original, and I know that I can offer no evidence that they sold me copyright, but I still own it!"

Not really. If a judge bought that, they would be dealt a heap of hurt from the circuit court.

According to 17 USC 204, the transfer of any exclusive right must be in writing, and must be signed by the copyright holder.

(a) A transfer of copyright ownership, other than by operation of law, is not valid unless an instrument of conveyance, or a note or memorandum of the transfer, is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent.

The writing doesn't need specific language, but it must be clear that it is indeed transferring the rights, and which rights it is transferring.

For example, a contract selling a business and "all its assets" would be clear enough if the business owned some copyrights. Because "all" is actually very specific.

But a contract selling off a portion of a business would have to be a lot more specific that certain copyrights are being transferred.

Stating "the copyrights necessary for the business" would not even do it. That would give you a contractual right to have them transfered, but it does not transfer them. Then you might have to sue for breach of contract, and the courts could then award you those copyrights.

[crescenta]

Big Dave--thanks, that's what I hoped was the case (and assumed was the case!).

Another thing I've been curious about, though--how does one *prove* that they created a work? Owning it cannot always be proof (since the artist may have sold the original without selling copyright). In the case of most photographers and artists, they probably have a body of work that *looks* like their stuff, and so no one's going to doubt a particular piece is theirs--has been created by them.

But with some people, they may not have taken that many pictures or drawn that many drawings, (so they don't have a recognizable body of work) so how would they *prove* that they are indeed the creator of the work (let's assume that they still possess the original)? If some cheeky copyright violator were to claim that "Yes, this other person has the original, but they didn't *really* take that picture or draw that drawing, I did, therefore I own the copyright." Could a copyright violator actually get away with something like this?

[stapel]

I think if you've registered the copyright and the infringer hasn't (and has no proof that he created the work), the court would judge in your favor. The issue of who created the work might turn into a "he said, she said" sort of thing, but if you have paperwork showing ownership (meaning that you went to the trouble and [minor] expense of providing documentation), that should (I would hope) move the court to pass judgement against the infringer.

Eliz.

[proboscis]

hmm...well images (for me anyway) are easy because I have all the originals. But for the text I guess the best thing would be to register the entire website with the copyright office, if you can do that.

That is sort of hard though because I am adding new content almost everyday...

[stapel]

So burn what you've got onto a CD, and register that with the Copyright Office. Then every few months (or whatever interval you're comfortable with), burn another CD and send it off with another thirty-dollar check.

Eliz.