An original work is copyrighted the moment of its creation, like when a photographer snaps his camera or a writer puts his pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard these days). The United States Copyright Act (and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) gives copyright owners the exclusive right to control the reproduction, distribution, performance, and display of their work, as well as the creation of derivative work.
A copyright is infringed when someone engages in any of the copyright owner’s rights without his permission. One example of infringement is when a blogger or website owner posts a photograph that isn’t his and he didn’t get permission from the copyright owner to do that.
When a photographer, say, finds that his photograph has been infringed, the infringer might be liable for damages. The kinds of damages that the photographer might recover depends on whether he filed his photograph with the Copyright Office before the infringement happened. If he did, he may be eligible to recover $750 up to $30,000. If he can prove that the infringer knowingly infringed (that is, knowingly used the photograph to avoid copyright law), he may be eligible to recover up to $150,000 per infringement, plus attorneys’ fees and costs. But if he didn’t register his photograph before the infringement occurred, his recovery, if any, would be limited to actual damages—his lost licensing fees and any non-speculative profits that the infringer gained from using the work.
If you’ve found that any of your photographs (or other work) has been infringed, contact our office. We can advise you of your legal options and represent you in federal court if that becomes necessary.
