With everyone putting their portfolios online, lots of you are asking questions about how to protect your work from being used- or, rather, stolen. Do the benefits of the online portfolio outweigh the risk of having someone take your work?
The answer is: yes. An online portfolio is an invaluable tool- and keeping people’s grubby little mitts off your work is fairly easy, but, there are a few things you should know.
Any time a piece of original work is affixed to a medium (paper, clay, ink, document), it is immediately protected under copyright. Copyright is exactly what it sounds like: the right to copy work. As the creator, you are (most of the time) considered the owner of the copyright and allowed to dictate the terms of what and how your work maybe copied by others. You don’t even need to put in the “©” or “all rights reserved”; thanks to the Berne Convention, copyright is established the moment the original idea takes a physical form. It’s as simple as that.
The most common special cases for students involve intangible ideas and work you do for an employer. Ideas or concepts cannot be protected- which is one reason you should never include an undeveloped idea in your portfolio. Additionally, when you create work for an employer, the employer holds the copyright- meaning you cannot use it anywhere (including your portfolio) without his/her permission. While many employers allow students to use work from internships and projects, some do not; ask first. If you are allowed to use it, this is a case where the “©” must be used to show who owns the copyright (since everyone who sees it will assume it’s you.)
The complicated part of protecting your work comes AFTER someone has used it and, should you choose to press civil charges, you will be asked to prove that you created the piece first. There are three main ways to establish when you own the rights:
1. Any website/digital document will be assigned a time stamp that indicates when it was created. This is sufficient evidence for any piece of work as a “born on” date.
2. The “poor man’s copyright” is used by artists, writers, record label owners and pretty much everyone. Put your piece in an envelope, go to the post office and mail a copy to yourself using “registered mail.” Should the need ever arise, you can use this to threaten anyone who has taken your stuff- since you have proof you committed it to a medium by a certain date. However, the poor man’s copyright does not stand up as official evidence in court, should things escalate to that level.
3. If you’re really concerned about someone stealing your work, the most official way to protect it is to register each piece of work with the U.S. Copyright Office. For 45$ (per piece) you can be sure no one will touch your stuff without a smack from the swift sword of federal justice. It’s the priciest option, but, if you’re really concerned, can you put a price on piece of mind?
And, there may also be cases where sharing your work increases your visibility and acts as free publicity (or, maybe you just love to share.) In that case, you can dictate the terms of your “right to copy” by registered for a Creative Commons License. They’re free and, once displayed on your website/work, they let people know the terms of how they can use your work.
