Is signing your artwork enough?

[tn100]

I'm wondering about copyrights. Is signing your artwork enough so that you own it or do you have to put a copyright symbol on every piece of art? If you put copyright 2008 your name at the bottom of your website, is that enough to say everything on the site is yours? I basically just want to know what you have to put on your artwork before putting it on the internet so it doesn't get stolen.

[Mirana]

There's no way to prevent it from being stolen unless you don't put it up at all. If you were going to pursue someone through the courts, then you would need to establish ownership through papertrail or (preferrably) through having sent your work to the copyright offices in your country before the infringement. Putting the notice on your site or art is only going to affect law-abiding citizens who may want to know what artist owns the piece(s).

I believe there are some stickies on the matter in the Employment Discussion sub-forum, or you can do a search.

[Wooly ESS]

In law, if you create it, you own it. My instructor signs all his work and adds a copyright symbol. This doesn't increase his protection, but it serves notice that he consider ownership of the image to be his, and he will pursue legal means to maintain his rights.

[Blue]

In law, if you create it, you own it. My instructor signs all his work and adds a copyright symbol. This doesn't increase his protection, but it serves notice that he consider ownership of the image to be his, and he will pursue legal means to maintain his rights.

For the time being, if orphan works passes all the signatures in the world won't matter.

But yes, for now, it is sufficient.

[Wooly ESS]

I should add that I live in Canada. A fairly stiff piece of legislation has recently been introduced by the federal government strengthening the rights of copyright holders. The focus of the legislation is music and movies, but it should apply to images as well.