Photographer's Mark

Robert Williams · Jul 12, 2000

This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos, and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the "C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image, or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Ron Reznick · Jul 12, 2000

I create a text selection and carve the © using AlienSkin's plug-in most of the time. Example:

© is Alt+0169 (on the number pad) for PCs. Check the Character Map for this and other character ALT+key-combinations.

Ron Reznick
http://www.digital-images.net
http://www.trapagon.com

Robert Williams said:
This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Neil Turner · Jul 13, 2000

Robert Williams said:
This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Robert

There are many ways of marking an image as copyrighted and pretty
much any of them is acceptable. Firstly, to actually create the symbol
itself it is "option g" on a Mac, although here in the UK it is accepted
that using (c) is equally viable. There are basically three ways that
are in common usage:
1. To create a larger canvas, with about an extra 1/2 inch on the bottom
of the photo and use the Photoshop type tool to put text in that space.
2. To use the "file info" caption and record your copyright in the boxes
such as the caption box and to check the box "mark as copyright". If
you record your copyright with the caption in the main file info box I
would then go to page set up and check the caption and labels boxes
there, so if anyone makes a hard copy the caption and copyright will
be displayed on the print.
3. The most foolproof method is to use some sort of watermarking
plug in. There are several on the market which actually prevent the
use of the image without you giving the user a "software key" to un-
lock it. I don't use one of these myself, and my paper isn't too keen
on them because the picture desk staff would spend way too much
time getting codes and keys sorted.
So there you go, which method you use depends on how many images
you are talking about and wether or not you can trust those who are
handling your photographs.

Neil.

http://members.aol.com/thismonth/index.html

...

James Allen · Jul 13, 2000

Robert Williams said:
This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Hi Robert;

I stumbled across this site the other day and there is some good info on the items you are interested in. http://www.wildlifephoto.net/howto/digital.html

There is also some good info on HtML download protection of images. I'm probably going to get flamed here but after years as a software developer I have come to the conclusion that I can slow down "honest people" but if someone really wants your stuff, they'll find a way to take it. Sorry; it's just a fact.

As to the creation of the of the © symbol that's easy using a Windows system, "not sure about the Mac, maybe someone with a Mac can share the how-to for the Mac folks". The symbol above was created by holding down the Alt-Key and typing 0169, that's it; this will give you the symbol in the Ms Sans Serif font.

To use the Character Map in Windows;

Choose Accessories
Charactor Map
Look for the © symbol; sure its there.

The Alt-key number to create the symbol will be displayed in the status bar below the Charactor Map.
Each font will have its own © Symbol and number code.

On some Windows systems the Charactor Map may not have been installed, that being the case go back to your Windows install and do an after the fact install.

Hope this helps

James

Dennis Barnes16823 · Jul 13, 2000

Robert Williams said:
This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

I have found a wonderful software to print the c inside the circle and to number my photos sequentially automatically and I can set the style and size and color of the text. You can get it from Leif Svendsen at [email protected]. He even will send you a trial copy. The real one costs $50.00 and it works wonderfully well.

robert i reis · Jul 13, 2000

The question had two parts:

The first was the placement of the traditional copyright mark and date and where to find it. The second referenced the "legalities" of the mark and other issues. When preparing a basic coverage of copyright for my students this past year, I attempted to create a "virtual" set of course materials. In the process I found the following link which I thought explained: quite nicely (in terms we all can understand) the recent changes in the Copyright Act which no longer make it necessary to protect your Copyright to have a mark, but the significant differences in access to the courts, remedies and longevity of protection throught both the use of a mark AND registration. The link to the Amercian Bar Association piece is:

COPYRIGHT BASICS - American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual Property Law

http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/comm106/106copy.html

For further details, including the Copyright Act, the link to my Computer, Cyberlaw and Policy site is:

http://www.ublaw.buffalo.edu/reis (When inside at bottom click Computer etc. Click syllabus, click on introduction to copyright)

Hope this helps.

Bob

Ron Reznick said:
© is Alt+0169 (on the number pad) for PCs. Check the Character Map for
this and other character ALT+key-combinations.

Ron Reznick
http://www.digital-images.net
http://www.trapagon.com

Robert Williams said:

This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Click to expand...

Ron Reznick · Jul 13, 2000

Hi Bob,

One thing about open forums that is different from tests and classroom situations is that if you don't have all information necessary to answer a question in all of it's parts, you can still answer the parts you are able to, knowing that it's likely that someone else will have an answer for the rest.

Thanks for the information re: copyright law. :^)

Ron

Bob said:
The first was the placement of the traditional copyright mark and date
and where to find it. The second referenced the "legalities" of the mark
and other issues. When preparing a basic coverage of copyright for my
students this past year, I attempted to create a "virtual" set of course
materials. In the process I found the following link which I thought
explained: quite nicely (in terms we all can understand) the recent
changes in the Copyright Act which no longer make it necessary to protect
your Copyright to have a mark, but the significant differences in access
to the courts, remedies and longevity of protection throught both the use
of a mark AND registration. The link to the Amercian Bar Association
piece is:

COPYRIGHT BASICS - American Bar Association, Section of Intellectual
Property Law

http://www.abanet.org/intelprop/comm106/106copy.html

For further details, including the Copyright Act, the link to my
Computer, Cyberlaw and Policy site is:

http://www.ublaw.buffalo.edu/reis (When inside at bottom click Computer
etc. Click syllabus, click on introduction to copyright)

Hope this helps.

Bob

Ron Reznick said:

© is Alt+0169 (on the number pad) for PCs. Check the Character Map for
this and other character ALT+key-combinations.

Ron Reznick
http://www.digital-images.net
http://www.trapagon.com

Robert Williams said:

This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Patrick23385 · Jul 13, 2000

James Allen said:
Robert Williams said:

This may be a stupid question, or I may be asking the wrong group of
people, but I was just wondering what would be the best/easiest way to
mark Digital Photos with the photographers name/copyright date? Is this
just a plain old text edit in software, or is there any way to create a
sizable mark that can be automatically pasted to every image in a
specified directory? Also, if you are the photographer, what are the
legalities about placing the copyright mark and date on your own photos,
and my last stupid question is how do I create the copyright symbol(the
"C" with the circle around it). I thought it was an ASCII character, but
it's not. And, can I use this symbol legally, as the owner of the image,
or must I go through some type of copyright registration process? I
know, I am quite confused.
Thanks for any help,
Robert Williams

Click to expand...

Hi Robert;

I stumbled across this site the other day and there is some good info on
the items you are interested in.
http://www.wildlifephoto.net/howto/digital.html
There is also some good info on HtML download protection of images. I'm
probably going to get flamed here but after years as a software developer
I have come to the conclusion that I can slow down "honest people" but if
someone really wants your stuff, they'll find a way to take it. Sorry;
it's just a fact.

As to the creation of the of the © symbol that's easy using a Windows
system, "not sure about the Mac, maybe someone with a Mac can share the
how-to for the Mac folks". The symbol above was created by holding down
the Alt-Key and typing 0169, that's it; this will give you the symbol in
the Ms Sans Serif font.

To use the Character Map in Windows;

Choose Accessories
Charactor Map
Look for the © symbol; sure its there.
The Alt-key number to create the symbol will be displayed in the status
bar below the Charactor Map.
Each font will have its own © Symbol and number code.

On some Windows systems the Charactor Map may not have been installed,
that being the case go back to your Windows install and do an after the
fact install.

Hope this helps

James

Robert Williams · Jul 13, 2000

I just wanted to thank everyone who responded, and let you know that all of my questions were answered. I hope this info has benefitted others as well, and has not just been a waste of server space. It's really great to have such a wealth of information at my fingertips. This forum and the people on it are invaluable.
Thanks Again,
Robert Williams

jeffrey behr · Jul 13, 2000

AMEN! Thank you, Robert, for a GOOD question and thank you eveyone for all the answers.

stanton · Jul 13, 2000

James Allen said:
As to the creation of the of the © symbol that's easy using a Windows
system, "not sure about the Mac, maybe someone with a Mac can share the
how-to for the Mac folks". The symbol above was created by holding down
the Alt-Key and typing 0169, that's it; this will give you the symbol in
the Ms Sans Serif font.

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Photographer's Mark

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