With our partner Digimarc, ImageSpan is engaged in an ongoing series of educational webinars for prospective new business customers. The latest of these, "Copyright 101, Copyright Basics for Creative Professionals, Media Companies and Content Archives," featured Jonathan Bailey, founder of the website, Plagiarism Today.

Bailey also serves as a consultant, helping Webmasters and companies devise practical content protection strategies and develop good copyright policies.

Below is a summary of some of the points discussed in the recent copyright webinar.

Who should be interested in copyright?
Copyright law today covers a broad range of people including Writers, Visual artists Photographers, Musicians, and Film Makers. It is not only these producers of this content but also the consumers that need to be aware of what copyright is and how it protects the owners of the content. From the classical music composer to the YouTube video amateur, copyright affects all of us.

What does copyright protect?
U.S. copyright protects a number of different works including literary, musical, dramatic, pantomimes, choreographic, pictorial, graphic, sculptural, motion picture and audiovisual, sound recordings and architectural. The copyright process is designed to protect the creator of the content and covers anything that is fixed on a tangible medium (for example on paper, in a digital file, on a painter’s canvas) of expression with a requisite level of creativity. Copyright does not apply to ideas but only to the expression of those ideas attached to a tangible medium.

It is worth noting that copyright eventually expires and, as a rule of thumb, anything created before 1928 is public domain and is not protected by copyright. That being said, copyright for an individual lasts 70 years after the individual’s death and can be passed on like any other asset. Copyright for a corporation is fixed at 95 years after publication.

What rights does copyright give me?
As the name suggests, the copyright owner has the right to copy or reproduce the work to prepare derivative works, to distribute copies, to publicly display or perform and to transfer ownership of the work. It may seem odd that the right to copy or reproduce and the right to distribute are called out separately. But as Jonathan pointed out, it would be common for a school to be given the right to copy or reproduce a work on a limited basis, while a copyright holder retains the right to distribute the work.

Where do I register my copyright?
The U.S. Copyright Office: If you are a US citizen and plan to file suit in the US it is a legal requirement that your work be registered with the US copyright office. Filings cost $35.00 for most works and multiple works can be submitted with the payment of one fee. For each filing, there are to maximum statutory damages. Even if you complete a filing properly and submit it electronically, expect that it will take a minimum of 9 months to receive a copyright certificate. A number of companies will help you assemble documentation to prove that you have submitted a request for copyright. These companies are not official government services but may help in preparing your case for trial. Most cases are settled out of court and do not make it to trial.

What are the best practices when dealing with infringement?
Preparing for and dealing with litigation is a time-consuming and expensive proposition. As mentioned above, most cases will not make it to trial and will be settled out of court.

However, by approaching copyright violation in a calm and strategic manner, you may be able to turn violators into customers. By giving violators an easy way to license your content, and by encouraging the legal use of your content, you are far more likely to achieve a positive outcome than by threatening of legal action.

The bottom line is that copyright is in place to protect you and your assets. It acts like an insurance policy -- should you ever need it.

To find out more, watch Jonathan Bailey's full Copyright 101 presentation and listen to audience questions by visiting our full webinar archive at: http://www.licensestream.com/licensestream2/Portal/knowledge_center/webinars.aspx

Have questions or comments about this blog post? Please feel free to share them by clicking on the "Comments" link below.

March 20^th was the official beginning of spring and with that comes the annual tradition of spring cleaning. As a content owner or creator you no doubt have archives of analog content in various states of organization. The question is, what to do with it?

There are a number of options for getting your images and analog media into a digital format in the market place today.

Creating a clear plan outlining what you want achieve by digitizing your media assets is a good place to start.

Digitizing your images also allows for them more easily to be used, standardized, manipulated and distributed in ways that are not possible with analog images. 

In addition, digitization allows you to:  

• Improve organization and management of your media assets
• Add digital content to your stock image collection from your analog archives for monetization
• Preserve your content from deterioration

If you plan to invest your own time in this process, start by doing a cost-benefit analysis. Calculate the value of your media assets now and in the future and determine whether they are worth the investment in time, equipment and supplies to digitize them yourself.  The following are a few things to consider in determining value:

• Marketplace value
• Historical archive value
• Personal value
• Relevance as Image Stock

What’s next?

Once you have a clear vision of what you want to digitize and why, the next step is to decide on an approach.

I can do this!

Plan to buy your own equipment and handle the process yourself? Be sure to check out all the scanner options before choosing the one that best suits you. Most retailers offer online user reports and reviews. It always pays to start your search online and narrow down your options. Once you have your machine, follow the manufacturer’s instructions on cleaning and do it regularly! Also try to create a work environment that is as dust-free as possible.

If you plan to go it alone, estimate how much time it will take you to digitize all your content and ask yourself if you’re ready to dedicate the time to completing your project.  Professionals in the image scanning industry estimate 10 to 15 minutes per image as a fairly good processing rate for a commercial operation. Based on that estimate, you may be looking at a significant time investment to digitize your images.

I don’t have time, who do I choose?

If you decide to go with a service provider / vendor to do the scanning, be sure to do some research and look for online reviews. There is always a risk that your raw assets could get lost or permanently damaged when dealing with a vendor so choose carefully.  Below are a few factors to consider when choosing a company:

• Good security around shipping and processing
• Quality control safeguards (well defined standards on image quality and Pricing)
• Good customer reviews
• Images are scanned and cleaned by people (Auto-fed machines can damage your image assets permanently and the human eye is a better judge when it comes to cleanup and retouching).

Is it worth the hassle and cost?

Your analog assets are not working for you nor are they being accessed by potential licensors when they are sitting in a box in storage. Worse yet, they are probably in danger of being permanently damaged by the elements.  And while your analog content may not generate immediate revenues as digital stock, gaining easy access to and protecting it from deterioration are key steps toward preserving future value.

Have questions or comments about this blog post? Please feel free to share them by clicking on the "Comments" link below.