Artist Rights

[thirteenknots]

I am an artist in Colorado. I want to be able to sell my original pieces and still make and still sell prints. Can i do this and how?

[FlyingRon]

Yes, unless you specifically did the work as a "work for hire" or otherwise assigned your rights to the purchaser, the copyright remains with you. You can sell prints (or reprodcutions or photots of sculpture, etc....) all you want and the purchaser IS NOT allowed to do so without your permission.

[thirteenknots]

Would i need to copyright, patent, trademark, etc.... first?

[The Occultist]

Once the work is created, the work is automatically covered by copyright law to yourself. You may, if you choose, register each work individually so as to receive some added protections.

To reiterate: registering your work under copyright is not explicitly necessary, but there is definitely nothing wrong with doing so.