How to protect a designers work?

[Rob Wright]

How do designers protect their work?

Do they get it copyrighted? Is there an assumed copyright? Or something else?

What is the process and cost as well?

Thanks for any help.

[Emmanuel]

I now protect my work by photographing everything at an angle and in less than ideal lighting situations.

I copyright my work though the U.S. Copyright Office. Artists/designers do have an assumed copyright upon the creation of a work, but having government documentation to back you up gives you more power should any infringement arise.

You can register online for copyright here: http://www.copyright.gov/eco/

The fee is only $35 for a single work or a series of work. Although you may have to wait 3-5 months for the certificate to arrive, you have official copyright the moment you complete registration online.

[Collector]

photographing everything at an angle;
a watermark on your artwork;
optimal resolution of your artwork - enough to be estimated by people, not enough to be easily printed in good quaility;
(c) mention;
some registrations of your rights in accordance with particular rules (laws) of your national legal system;

And one very important thing - to remember that you can't 100% protect something in Internet.

[Don Boyer]

optimal resolution of your artwork - enough to be estimated by people, not enough to be easily printed in good quaility;

That doesn't always work.  Because a playing card is so tiny, you don't require very high resolution images to print it.

There's one trick I heard of that seems to work, at least as far as proving you made yours first.  Go the copyright route, definitely, but also make a copy of your work and mail it to yourself via Registered Mail.  Don't open it unless it's needed as evidence in a court case.  The sealed envelope and the postmark would be adequate proof that you completed your artwork by the date on the postmark and the Post Office keeps records of anything sent Registered Mail - further proof that the mark is genuine and not forged.

Bear in mind that this would hold up well in a US court - pursuing cases elsewhere would be hit or miss and there are corners of the world that pay little more than lip service to copyrights.

[Emmanuel]

There's one trick I heard of that seems to work, at least as far as proving you made yours first.  Go the copyright route, definitely, but also make a copy of your work and mail it to yourself via Registered Mail.  Don't open it unless it's needed as evidence in a court case.  The sealed envelope and the postmark would be adequate proof that you completed your artwork by the date on the postmark and the Post Office keeps records of anything sent Registered Mail - further proof that the mark is genuine and not forged.

Bear in mind that this would hold up well in a US court - pursuing cases elsewhere would be hit or miss and there are corners of the world that pay little more than lip service to copyrights.

Excellent suggestion, Don! A friend of mine once told me to do the same thing, but I had forgotten about it.