TradeMark Express Blog: All Things Trademark

Copyrights and Patents: Visual Arts Copyright Registration

First, let's pinpoint what falls into the visual arts category. Here's the list of examples from the US Copyright Office:

"Examples of visual arts works:

• Advertisements, commercial prints, labels
• Artificial flowers and plants
• Artwork applied to clothing or to other useful articles
• Bumper stickers, decals, stickers
• Cartographic works, such as maps, globes, relief models
• Cartoons, comic strips
• Collages
• Dolls, toys
• Drawings, paintings, murals
• Enamel works
• Fabric, floor, and wallcovering designs
• Games, puzzles
• Greeting cards, postcards, stationery
• Holograms, computer and laser artwork
• Jewelry designs
• Models
• Mosaics
• Needlework and craft kits
• Original prints, such as engravings, etchings, serigraphs, silk screen prints, woodblock prints
• Patterns for sewing, knitting, crochet, needlework
• Photographs, photomontages
• Posters
• Record jacket artwork or photography
• Relief and intaglio prints
• Reproductions, such as lithographs, collotypes
• Sculpture, such as carvings, ceramics, figurines, maquettes, molds, relief sculptures
• Stained glass designs
• Stencils, cut-outs
• Technical drawings, architectural drawings or plans, blueprints, diagrams, mechanical drawings
• Weaving designs, lace designs, tapestries"

Now to file an application:

The application is fairly simple & the cost is $45 per application.

Despite what others state, a "poor man's" copyright is NOT the same as registering it. Here's what the US Copyright Office has to say:

"The practice of sending a copy of your own work to yourself is sometimes called a 'poor man’s copyright.' There is no provision in the copyright law regarding any such type of protection, and it is not a substitute for registration."

Lastly, here are two great resources for Copyrights, the Creative Arts & Music:

• NOLO's Copyright Resource Center
• NOLO's Creative Arts & Music Resource Center