What the Law Says About Copyrighted Material^1:

Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States(title 17, US Code) to the authors of “original works of authorship”….This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. This includes pictorial, graphic, and sculptural works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;

To prepare derivative works based upon the work;

To distribute copies or phorecords of the work to the public by sale or transfer or ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of...pictorial, graphic...works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work

Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright.

Mere ownership of a book, manuscript, painting, or any other copy or phonorecord does not give the possessor the copyright. The law provides that transfer of ownership of any material object that embodies a protected work does not itself convey any rights in the copyright.

Copyright is secured automatically upon creation. The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright….Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. “Copies” are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, manuscripts, sheet music, film, videotape, or microfilm.

The use of a copyright notice is no longer required under U.S. law, although it is often beneficial….Use of the notice may be important because it informs the public that the work is protected by copyright, identifies the copyright ownder, and shows the year of first publication. Furthermore, in the even that a work is infringed, if a proper notice of copyright appears on the published copy or copies to which a defendant in a copyright infringement suit had access, then no weight shall be given to such a defendant’s interposition of a defense based on innocent infringement in mitigation of actual or statutory damages.

A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author’s life plus an additional 70 years after the author’s death.

Any or all of the copyright owner’s exclusive  rights or any subdivision of those rights may be transferred, but the transfer of exclusive rights is not valid unless the transfer is in writing and signed by the owner of the rights conveyed or such owner’s duly authorized agent. Transfer of a right on a nonexclusive basis does not require a written agreement.

Penalties For Copyright Infringement²

-For innocent infringement (where the violator proves s/he was unaware of the copyright) the statutory fine begins at $200 for each violation. For each willful infringement, the statutory fine ranges from $750 to $150,000 for each violation.

¹All of this information was taken from information provided by the US Copyright Office. www.copyright.gov

²Information taken from Title 17, Chapter 5, Section 504 of the US Code available at: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/504.html

J Bar D Studios, Inc.’s Position on the Copyright Protection of Our Work

We are providing you this information so that you can better understand both the law regarding copyright protections and why they are important. The law is clear and has been designed to protect both artistic and commercial intellectual property. The law was designed to protect those who are able to produce works of value or interest to others. When you contract with J Bar D Studios, Inc. for a ranch shoot, purchase one of our photographs, composites, a website, or any of our other products your are drawing on our investment in equipment, time, experience, and expertise. The photograph, etc. that you purchase is both our artistic and intellectual property.

One of our company objectives is to keep costs as reasonable as possible for our customers. As a result, our photograph prices remain among the lowest for nationally recognized horse photographers. Unfortunately in the last several years with the advances in personal computer technology, our ability to keep photograph prices low for our customers has been threatened as copyright infringements continue to increase. One of the ways that we are trying to protect both our intellectual property and our customers is to make you aware both of the law and J Bar D Studios, Inc. specific copyright provisions. We believe that most people are honest and through education, we hope that we can partner with our customers to ensure that our prices remain low.

All of J Bar D Studios, Inc. work is protected from the moment the film is developed or digital image created pursuant to copyright law protections.

Magazines and other publications are automatically allowed to publish any J Bar D Studios, Inc. photograph, composite, or image, provided that the photograph has been purchased from J Bar D Studios, Inc. We have always and will always allow any publication to use our work without question, so long as the photograph has been purchased by that publication or advertiser.

When you buy a photograph, you are ONLY buying that individual image in the size that you ordered. Fair use of that photograph is limited to the following: (a) displaying that tangible, physical photograph in the size in which it was ordered in public or private; (b) previously exempted uses (i.e., unmanipulated and unchanged in a magazine or other publication).

While not entirely inclusive, the following represents common inappropriate uses of our copyrighted photographs: (a) scanning the images to place on a website (either personal or commercial); (b) reproducing the image for display IN ANY WAY (this certainly includes scanning and printing additional ‘pictures’ from that scanned image but also includes any unauthorized banners, posters, t-shirts, fliers, postcards, business cards to name just a few examples).

J Bar D Studios, Inc. regularly grants one-time copyright releases for appropriate uses of our photographs including things like: fliers with wording on them; banners; business cards; or products that we do not make (e.g., t-shirts with the photograph on them). However, we do require that our customers obtain a copyright release from us.

J Bar D Studios, Inc. has never and will never provide a free copyright release for any product or service we offer such as: (1) additional photographs or copies of images produced or (2) release of our photographs for use in a “poster” or any large composite image to be created by another service provider. If a customer wishes to purchase one full-use CD at high resolution, they may do so for $175 for each image, which affords them the ability to use the photograph for such things.

If you ever have any questions regarding appropriate use of J Bar D Studios, Inc. photos, images, etc., please do not hesitate to contact our Business Manager, Audra Diers at JBarDStudios@aol.com  or by phone at 970-323-6646.

Website constructed by Audra Diers of J Bar D Studios, Inc. This site, all images, materials, narratives, and concepts are Copyrighted 2004 by J Bar D Studios, Inc.