Poor Mans Copyright

[Crissyanon]

Has any one heard of a poor mans copyright? Some one told me I could put my images on a cd and send it certified mail back to myself. I was told not to open it and put it away that way if anyone were to use the images I could use this in court. Not sure how true it is???? I always add the copyright symbol on all my photos.

[John Wheeler]

Hi Crissyanon and welcome to the forums
Yes, IMHO that is the "poor" mans copyright because with that strategy, if you went to court, without the timely registration of your copyright, you would:
- still have to register your copyright before suing and probably pay the much higher cost for expedited registration
- not be able to recover attorney and courts costs and
- could only recover actual damages (harder to prove) as opposed to possible statutory awards....

....and therefore remain "poor"

I suggest getting up to speed on copyright details and registration approaches. One resource is "The Copyright Handbook" by Nolo and I am sure other forum members could recommend other good resources (including a lawyer to show you how to do it the first time and then doing it yourself after that). Hope that is helpful.

[mistermonday]

Crissyanon, this link might be useful to read.
http://blog.kenkaminesky.com/photogr...t-and-the-law/
Regards, Murray