# Intellectual property Q

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 2, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009 "2015-07-02T01:15:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Peter\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/df705f/32.png) [@Peter\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Doubt)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009/1 "2015-07-02T01:15:48Z")

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Is there a ‘go to’ service or website for posting images that you want to copyright and retain rights to?

Any general guidelines for trying to copyright a photographic image appreciated.

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**Author:** ![Construct](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@Construct](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Construct)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009/2 "2015-07-02T01:18:03Z")

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All creative works are automatically copyrighted. You can register the work with the US copyright office for additional rights, though this is usually only done in the case of commercial works.

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**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009/3 "2015-07-02T01:39:07Z")

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Ahem. All creative works put in a tangibles form are automatically copyrighted. If you play a song on a piano and don’t write it down then it is not copyrighted. If you write a story in your head but never write it down or just tell it to someone it is not copyrighted.

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**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009/4 "2015-07-02T12:54:54Z")

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All the talk of “automatic copyright” assumes the creator is in the US. We don’t know that’s the case.

The “go-to service or website” you’re looking for is the copyright office in your country. They’re the ones who will definitively and inarguably register your claim to originality of the work. Any other entity is just guessing and is subject to dispute.

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/intellectual-property-q/724009/5 "2015-07-02T14:36:17Z")

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The [Copyright Office](http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl107.html) page on photographs.