USCO Registration bulk ./. individual

[tempa]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Federal Law - USCO registration and statutory damages

I have several thousand unregistered copyright protected works online and until 2014 this wasn't a problem. Early 2015 I learned that hundred of my work was copied unlawfully and sold on products on amazon. Early 2015 I learned that paragraph 5 of the WIPO treaty (Bern Treaty on Copyright) means diddly squat. paragraph 5 states that members of the treaty get rid of formalities in order to accept copyright claims. The USCO registration seems to me is a formality but since the States recognize copyrights without a registration they successfully circumvent paragraph 5 even though without a registration it is completely impractical to enforce your copyright because $450/h attorneys gobble any damages within an hour or two and you can't claim any attorney fees in court as secondary damages from the counterfeiter.

It gets worse. If you file a takedown notice in accordance with the DMCA and somebody files a counter notice in bad faith of fraudulently you have no choice but to file an injunction and you become vulnerable to a damage claim by the counterfeiter. Despite the fact that you can reasonably proof that you are the author you have the stress and work of endless takedown notices and run the risk of spending more money on your work of art for litigation than it makes in five years if anything to protect yourself from a bad faith / fraudulent counter claim.

Lesson learned the hard way. A USCO registration is vital. But to register several thousand images individually is way outside my financial means.

I can register them in a catalogue or by and by in batches of 750 in the course of several months. Register as a catalogue or in batches still is unfair to the artist since statutory damages are per batch or catalogue and not the individual work within. Any claim can blow up in your face if the infringement predates the registration or the damages still exceed the awarded statutory damages but you have no means to proof these damages sufficiently for the court. Besides you're a business and want the best possible outcome. So here comes the question

If I register in batches or a catalogue of my works to protect my works fast and immediate from this point forward and start to register works that are stolen most again this time individually in order to make use of the full force of the law.
Will the USCO accept this form of registration?
If yes will the previous batch / catalogue registration supersede the individual registration?

I see more trouble in batch registration they might not be accepted at all since the publishing dates might not be close enough together.

A catalogue can be viewed as a work on its own. The question remains how will the registration of the catalogue effect the registration of individual images from this catalogue when it comes to statutory damage claims in court?

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)?
Federal Law - USCO registration and statutory damages

I have several thousand unregistered copyright protected works online and until 2014 this wasn't a problem. Early 2015 I learned that hundred of my work was copied unlawfully and sold on products on amazon. Early 2015 I learned that �5 of the WIPO treaty (Bern Treaty on Copyright) means diddly squat. �5 states that members of the treaty get of formalities in order to accept copyright claims. The USCO registration seems to me is a formality but since the states recognize copyrights without a registration they successfully circumvent �5 even though without a registration it is completely impractical to enforce your copyright because $450/h attorneys gobble any damages within an hour or two and you can't claim any attorney fees in court as secondary damages from the counterfeiter.

It gets worse. If you file a takedown notice in accordance with the DMCA and somebody files a counter notice in bad faith of fraudulently you have no choice but to file an injunction and you become vulnerable to a damage claim by the counterfeiter. Despite the fact that you can reasonably proof that you are the author you have the stress and work of endless takedown notices and run the risk of spending more money on your work of art for litigation than it makes in five years if anything to protect yourself from a bad faith / fraudulent counter claim.

Lesson learned the hard way. A USCO registration is vital. But to register several thousand images individually is way outside my financial means.

I can register them in a catalogue or by and by in batches of 750 in the course of several months. Register as a catalogue or in batches still is unfair to the artist since statutory damages are per batch or catalogue and not the individual work within. Any claim can blow up in your face if the infringement predates the registration or the damages still exceed the awarded statutory damages but you have no means to proof these damages sufficiently for the court. Besides you're a business and want the best possible outcome. So here comes the question

If I register in batches or a catalogue of my works to protect my works fast and immediate from this point forward and start to register works that are stolen most again this time individually in order to make use of the full force of the law.
Will the USCO accept this form of registration?
If yes will the previous batch / catalogue registration supersede the individual registration?

I see more trouble in batch registration they might not be accepted at all since the publishing dates might not be close enough together.

A catalogue can be viewed as a work on its own. The question remains how will the registration of the catalogue effect the registration of individual images from this catalogue when it comes to statutory damage claims in court?

I am going to have to read through your post again to better understand your questions/concerns but I will start by telling you that, if you published works awhile ago and you are now discovering these works have been and are being infringed, you could not register your works with the US Copyright Office and be eligible for statutory damages.

Statutory damages are available only to copyright holders who registered their works prior to, or within three months of, publication.

I think you would be smart to do two things: one, file DMCA takedown notices with those sites that currently display your works without your authorization and, two, sit down with an IP attorney in Germany who is familiar with international copyright infringement claims.

 

[tempa]

I published them since 2008 and all are up longer then three months and yes I understand that it ís too late for any infringements already occurring. I understood the rules for registration as you do until I read somewhere that I could get statutory damages and even more important __ my attorney fees as secondary damages __ from the point onward that the art has been registered.

I got the answer to international copyrights in 2015 from three different $500/h attorneys as a free gift.

The US federal court does not change their position on the need for registration as far as artists in countries without a registration are concerned and do ignore the WIPO treaty §5 that states that WIPO countries get rid of their formalities in order to recognize the respected copyright. And it doesn't matter that every German court recognizes my attorney fees and any other relates expenses as secondary damages and grant me a title / claim.

My lawyer is currently looking into the Enforcing Foreign Judgments Act since the service publishes both in the States and in Europe. The service actually entered the jurisdiction of my country and as such did the infringer from CA.

 

[quincy]

I published them since 2008 and all are up longer then three months and yes I understand that it ís too late for any infringements already occurring. I understood the rules for registration as you do until I read somewhere that I could get statutory damages and even more important __ my attorney fees as secondary damages __ from the point onward that the art has been registered.

I am afraid you heard wrong. You cannot register already-published-and-infringed works with the US Copyright Office and be eligible for statutory damages. You will need to prove actual damages - proven profits by the infringer or proven losses suffered by you.

Here is a link for you to look through: http://www.copyright.gov

I recommend you search out an IP attorney in Germany.

Good luck.

 

[quincy]

... I got the answer to international copyrights in 2015 from three different $500/h attorneys as a free gift.

The US federal court does not change their position on the need for registration as far as artists in countries without a registration are concerned and do ignore the WIPO treaty §5 that states that WIPO countries get rid of their formalities in order to recognize the respected copyright. And it doesn't matter that every German court recognizes my attorney fees and any other relates expenses as secondary damages and grant me a title / claim.

My lawyer is currently looking into the Enforcing Foreign Judgments Act since the service publishes both in the States and in Europe. The service actually entered the jurisdiction of my country and as such did the infringer from CA.

You added all of this to your previous post after I had posted.

The US recognizes foreign copyrights but, as with all countries that have signed the treaties that agree to extend copyright protection to foreign works, the works are protected by the copyright laws of each separate country only. There is no one international copyright law. Enforcing your copyrights that have been infringed in Germany will therefore be different than enforcing your copyrights that have been infringed in the US.

An author/artist from Germany can enforce his copyrights by pursuing his infringers in the countries where his works have been infringed, in other words, but he cannot enforce his copyrights in these countries under German copyright law. He must enforce them using the laws and courts of the countries where his infringers reside.

If you have a lawyer, I suggest you rely on his advice. Make sure your lawyer is well-versed in international copyright protection.

 

[tempa]

You added all of this to your previous post after I had posted.

The US recognizes foreign copyrights but, as with all countries that have signed the treaties that agree to extend copyright protection to foreign works, the works are protected by the copyright laws of each separate country only. There is no one international copyright law. Enforcing your copyrights that have been infringed in Germany will therefore be different than enforcing your copyrights that have been infringed in the US.

An author/artist from Germany can enforce his copyrights by pursuing his infringers in the countries where his works have been infringed, in other words, but he cannot enforce his copyrights in these countries under German copyright law. He must enforce them using the laws and courts of the countries where his infringers reside.

If you have a lawyer, I suggest you rely on his advice. Make sure your lawyer is well-versed in international copyright protection.

Sorry, I should have left out the background story which is now confusing the issue.

A catalogue is a creative work in its own right, I also could create a photo with a product and apply the art works on the product in the photo prominently which makes the photo a new work in its own right protecting the old work within.

The problem is basically economical. If you are a print on demand artist you produce a lot of creations that are copyrighted the moment you create them, but in order to enforce your copyright you need to register your work. And of course to have better tools in the legal department so that your income is not decimated by counterfeits.

But within this high volume of works there is a high percentage that earn less than 35$ a year which is the minimum rate others hit the market and make several hundred with in months after publishing but most show their potential only after three months. So in any case once you know if a registration is good common sense the three months have passed.

_______________
The logical solution is to register them in bulk e.g. in a catalogue so several hundred at a time for $55 in total and when it becomes apparent that a single registration is the better option register the work individual.
_______________

Will the first registration interfere with the second registration?

 

[quincy]

Sorry, I should have left out the background story which is now confusing the issue.

A catalogue is a creative work in its own right, I also could create a photo with a product and apply the art works on the product in the photo prominently which makes the photo a new work in its own right protecting the old work within.

The problem is basically economical. If you are a print on demand artist you produce a lot of creations that are copyrighted the moment you create them, but in order to enforce your copyright you need to register your work. And of course to have better tools in the legal department so that your income is not decimated by counterfeits.

But within this high volume of works there is a high percentage that earn less than 35$ a year which is the minimum rate others hit the market and make several hundred with in months after publishing but most show their potential only after three months. So in any case once you know if a registration is good common sense the three months have passed.

_______________
The logical solution is to register them in bulk e.g. in a catalogue so several hundred at a time for $55 in total and when it becomes apparent that a single registration is the better option register the work individual.
_______________

Will the first registration interfere with the second registration?

Registering your works, from the US Copyright Office (the link to the main website which I provided earlier):

http://www.copyright.gov/fls/sl35.pdf
http://www.copyright.gov/fls/sl04s.pdf

A link to New Media Rights Organization with some information that you might find helpful: http://www.newmediarights.org/copyright/how_do_i_register_multiple_works_visual_art_t_shirt_designs_copyright_office


You can use this thread instead of your other one to add any additional questions you might have over the infringement of your copyrighted works. Thank you.

 

[quincy]

tempa, I received your private message. I am sorry if you thought my attitude toward your posts was less than professional. Perhaps I was more abrupt with you than I should have been.

In way of explanation, however, I have always felt that it is polite to follow the rules of your host. For example, if I go to someone's house and they ask that I take off my shoes before entering, I take off my shoes before entering. I do not argue with my host over the reasons for the request and I do not ignore their request and walk into their house with my shoes on. I either follow their rules or I leave. Simple etiquette.

I suggest you visit the US Copyright Office website and seek out assistance from an IP attorney local to you.


(the links above now work)