Would this work to protect copyright.

[MitchellC]

My friend has photos he has has taken, and I have the website where he wants me to sell them. But he doesn't want his digital files to be downloaded. And thanks to this forum, I now realize once the files are downloaded there is nothing I can do to prevent distribution, outside of threats of legal action.

I came up with an option...

A visitor looks at the photos on my site. He selects one to buy and pays for it. Instead of downloading the file to his computer, he is able to print it directly from my website/server.

Can that be done? Can anyone print at home on their printer direct from another server?

Will the quality of the photo still be the same as if he downloaded the file and printed it?

Thanks again for your help.

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

Even if this could be done you would be opening a real can of worms. Many people don't know how to use their printers and it would often take more than one go to get it right. Customers would also have to be allowed to format the image. Having said that if you are sending a file to a printer then it can be saved on the recipients PC.

I don't think there is any way round this. You would just have to accept that anyone who wants to use the image illegally can do so. Even if you send them a hard copy it could be scanned using a high res scanner and posted all over the Internet by people so minded.

[driller41]

You could always send inflated bills out to anyone nicking your images like Corbis and IStockPhoto does

[Corey Bryant]

Search for DRM or digital rights management in your favorite search engine - there are some programs that you could possibly use to help protect your images