01/30/2015
Copyright is the legal bedrock upon which your photography business is built. It gives you the sole right to decide who can use the work you create. These simple basics will change the way you think about your images.
You create it — you own it. Your copyright comes into existence automatically when you capture an original image.
Any person or business must have permission (a license) from you to publish (reproduce) your images in any medium, physical or electronic. The specifics of what permissions you grant and how you go about granting them are detailed on the following pages.
You do not have to register your work with the Copyright Office to acquire your copyright. However, the legal protections available to you are limited if the photographs are not registered. Those limitations can translate into lost income.
Your name and/or the copyright symbol do not have to appear on or next to your image to have copyright protection. There are practical business reasons for labeling your work, but you do not lose your rights if that label is removed or was never present.
