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Oh, there's always lots of excitement here! And yes - I think we're the only ones online!
No, you don't have to have a registered copyright - according to the Berne Copyright Convention, almost everything created privately and originally after April 1, 1989 is copyrighted and protected whether it has a notice or not from the moment it's created. That applies to things you've written and published, pictures, artwork, etc. You only have to register your copyright if you want to file a lawsuit for an infringement (and that's just a silly rule here in the US - most other countries under the Berne Convention are prohibited to require formal registration - so, even if you don't have a registered copyright and someone steals or distributes your work, you can take legal action against them).
So, all my pictures were mine, and I technically held the copyright, before I started actually putting it on the picture. Having it on there, smack dab on the bird, just makes it harder for someone to crop it out and call it theirs. (Can you tell that all through high school I thought I wanted to be a lawyer?)
Oh, dear. If Terri O hasn't posted, does that mean the vet bill was on the high end?
Oh, there's always lots of excitement here! And yes - I think we're the only ones online!

No, you don't have to have a registered copyright - according to the Berne Copyright Convention, almost everything created privately and originally after April 1, 1989 is copyrighted and protected whether it has a notice or not from the moment it's created. That applies to things you've written and published, pictures, artwork, etc. You only have to register your copyright if you want to file a lawsuit for an infringement (and that's just a silly rule here in the US - most other countries under the Berne Convention are prohibited to require formal registration - so, even if you don't have a registered copyright and someone steals or distributes your work, you can take legal action against them).
So, all my pictures were mine, and I technically held the copyright, before I started actually putting it on the picture. Having it on there, smack dab on the bird, just makes it harder for someone to crop it out and call it theirs. (Can you tell that all through high school I thought I wanted to be a lawyer?)

Oh, dear. If Terri O hasn't posted, does that mean the vet bill was on the high end?

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