Oh, wouldn't it be nice if having an art business didn't include things like taxes, licenses, marketing and copyrighting? But alas, the artist must submit to such demands. The good news is, that copyrighting is not so bad after all. I just finished copyrighting my new Jewelry line Sugar Coat, because I am scared that Urban Outfitters is going to steal it from me. Ok, secretly I would be totally flattered, but I am sure those execs can afford to hire a dog walker everyday, so UO, let's talk...
It took me less than an hour to file, and half of that time was spent trying to remember my user name and password from the last time I filed, a few years back. Seriously, there was no way to retrieve my user name, so I gave up and started a new account. Learn from my laziness, write down your username/password info somewhere.
Here is the link to get started: http://www.copyright.gov/
Click on eCO log in, which will take you to this page, where you can register an account.
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| Sadly, there are no pink bulls eyes on the official site. |
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| Click on Register a New Claim |
From there there are a series of many steps, but each one is really simple. You will have to choose what kind of work you are registering, music, art, writing. I registered a whole jewelry line, I am pretty sure that something like that counts as just one submission. It costs $35 every time you do this on line, no matter how many things you register, so you can do lots of art at one time.
After completing the many easy steps you will have to make a payment. I used a credit card, easy peasy. Then once your payment has been accepted, you can upload the images of the work you are registering.
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| Sugar Coat sneek peek... |
I used all low res jpegs, and used 4 images to represent my line, one image was my logo.
I then received a bunch of emails saying that I had completed my registration, and the paper work will be mailed to me.
That's all there is to it. I know it seems daunting, but it was really easy, so go protect yourself and your awesome artwork!!
