Evidence File

Are you a photographer, an authors’ representative or an image distribution platform? Copyright in a photograph arises when it is created and belongs to its author from the outset, with no formalities. Registration is not a condition of protection: in the United States (17 U.S.C. §§ 102(a), 201(a) and 408(a)); in the more than 180 states party to the Berne Convention, across the Americas, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania (Art. 5(2)); in the member countries of the World Trade Organization, which must apply these rules under the TRIPS Agreement (Art. 9(1)), or in those that have joined the WIPO Copyright Treaty (Art. 3).

Registration with the U.S. Copyright Office becomes useful, or even necessary, in specific cases: for a U.S. work, it is required before any action in federal court (§ 411(a)); a registration application is required to bring a claim before the Copyright Claims Board (§ 1505); made before the infringement or within three months of publication, it makes statutory damages and attorney’s fees available (§ 412); made within five years of publication, it creates a presumption that the copyright is valid (§ 410(c)).

ATLANTIC IMAGE DEFENSE can be mandated for either service, each handled separately: defending your photographs, which always begins with an amicable approach to the user; registering your works, carried out directly with the U.S. Copyright Office under a mandate signed beforehand, within that office’s own timeframes. ATLANTIC IMAGE DEFENSE is not affiliated with the Copyright Office or the CCB. Register a work with the U.S. Copyright Office

In the United States, copyright in a photograph generally lasts for the author’s life plus 70 years (17 U.S.C. § 302(a)); the Berne Convention sets a minimum of life plus 50 years (Art. 7(1)), which the WIPO Copyright Treaty extends to photographs (Art. 9).