[dbphotos]

According to an interview with Intellectual Property Attorney, Edward Greenberg, the following guidelines are necessary to legally protect your copyrights.

In order to sue for the illegal use or infringement of your images, you MUST have registered the images with the U.S. Copyright Office. The good news is that you have 90 days from the date of the infringement to file the copyright registration with the U.S. Copyright Office. If you register within the 90 day limit you can sue for statutory and punitive damages and attorney fees. If you register after the 90 day window then you can only sue for "reasonable" actual losses or damages. The good news is that you can easily and inexpensively register groups of images online with the U.S. Copyright Office for only $35. (http://www.copyright.gov/register/ )

The bottom line is that you can sue for damages if, and only if, you register your images with the U.S. Copyright Office.

Based on this information, my workflow will now include a bulk registration for each event I shoot. I'll upload all my images to the U.S. Copyright Office and pay the $35 and know that I am covered. Once a photographer works this into their workflow, it should become rather simple.

** I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY AND THIS INFORMATION IS FOR EDUCATIONAL AND INFORMATIONAL USE ONLY. SEE AN INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS ATTORNEY IN YOUR STATE FOR GUIDANCE AND FURTHER DIRECTION. **

Here's another good link: Editorial Photographers - Copyright