Every artist should be familiar with copyright laws and should therefore respect the copyright ownership of other artists' works. All work should be original and not a "derivative" of another persons creation.
An artist's work is copyrighted at the time of creation.
To be awarded damages for infringement, the work must be registered within a certain time period of its publication.
For protection, the back of prints can be stamped with the © and year and the artist's name.

©2006 Colleen Corradi, all Rights Reserved

This could also be attached to the back of the print on a "Certificate of Authenticity" or an "Edition Statement".


The basics

Creators of artwork have certain rights over their work and can control how their creations are used. When a client buys "rights" to artist's work, he buys the right to reproduce it for a certain period of time. Unless all rights are purchased, artists temporarily "lease" their work to the client for reproduction or publication. The artwork must be returned to the artist unless otherwise specified.

There are a number of rights typically sold, and they include:

• Exclusive rights. The buyer acquires the exclusive right to use the artwork in his market or for a particular product
• One-time rights. The artwork is leased for a one time use, and the buyer has no guarantee that he is the first to use the piece. After use, rights revert back to the artist.
• First rights. This is the same as purchase of one-time rights though the art buyer is paying a bit more for the privilege of being the first to use the image. He may use it only once unless other rights are negotiated.
• Reprint rights. These give a magazine or a newspaper the opportunity to print artist's work after it has already appeared in another publication.
• Subsidiary rights. This category covers additional rights purchased. Each right must be specified in the contract
• Promotion rights. These rights allow a publisher to use artist's work for promotion of a publication in which the artwork appeared. If the agreement asks for promotional use in addition to the rights first sold to reproduce the image, then artists may charge more.
• Works for hire. Under the Copyright Act of 1976, section 101, a "work for hire" is defined as: "a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment; or a work specifically ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a collective work, as part of a motion picture or audiovisual work, or as a supplementary work if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by then that the work shall be considered a work made for hire." Artists have to proceed with caution if a client requests this arrangement. One could be losing possible royalties and the work an artist creates could make their employer rich!
• All Rights. This involves selling or assigning all rights to a piece of artwork for a specified period of time. It differs from work for hire as the artist surrenders all rights to an image or any claims to royalties or any other type of compensation. The terms for these rights - including the time period of usage and compensation- should always be negotiated and confirmed in a written agreement with the client.