[Jewelry making - Article 01216] - Re: [Orchid] Signature to Identify your work?

[Stephen Walker]

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>         Hey! would I be breaking any laws by adding a cocopywriteymbol
>     when my designs are not officially cocopywriten? 

    In the US you own the copyright of a work or design just because you
    are the author. If you register the copyright with the government by
    filling out the paperwork and depositing a copy or photo with the
    copyright office at the Library of Congress, you only make it easier
    to prove your copyright than if you just mark it copyright. You
    actually can claim copyright without even signing the work, but it
    becomes difficult to prove and impossible to collect damages if you
    ever try to enforce it. I think that most countries are pretty much
    in agreement about intellectual property, but there could be some
    differences in Europe that I am unaware of. 

    I once had a copyright infringement suit for a piece that I had
    marked copyright, but had not registered. My lawyer told me that the
    first thing I should do was to register it with the copyright office,
    even though the design was already 10 years old. I only contacted the
    lawyer after a "cease and desist" letter that I wrote myself was
    rejected by the copycat. I was assured by the lawyer that marking
    everything "copyright" with my name, including illustrations, catalogs
    and websites was the correct and prudent thing to do even if I did
    not register the designs. The lawyer wrote a much more convincing
    letter demanding the destruction of all molds, didestructionf copies
    of the design, removal of images from catalogs and websites including
    those of resellers. She filed a complaint in federal court and the
    copycat very quickly gave in. 

    Some types of designs are easier to defend than others, but that
    should not prevent you from marking your work copyright. These things
    rarely go all the way to court. Usually it is a matter of squaring
    off with cease and desist letters and the suggestion of expensive
    legal action that makes each party take a reckoning of how much it is
    worth to them. My little adventure cost quite a lot, but I learned a
    lot from it. 

    BTW, the copycat of my design cast his own copyright notice on the
    knock-offs. 

Stephen Walker

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