Copyright of pictures

  Great was my surprise when I found this image of mine

on an Etsy shop for sale!!!

You can purchase my photograph in various sizes,

in a frame, without a frame

and as stationery!

The only problem is that the shop is not my shop,

but Bernadette's Cupboard

and I did not give permission for my photograph to be used

and definitely not sold.

When I contacted the shop owner she challenged me

as to how did I copyright the picture and how can I

prove that I am the photographer, despite the fact

that I pointed her to this blog post where I shared

the sacred process of creating this devotion

http://www.path-of-divine-love.com/2012/02/holy-day-of-our-lady-of-lourdes.html

For those who are uncertain about copyright, I found the following on

http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/copyright-fair-use-and-how-it-works-for-online-images/

Copyright attaches at the time of creation and there is no requirement to use the “circle c”. Image source: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Copyright is a federal law of the United States that protects original works of authorship. A work of authorship includes literary, written, dramatic, artistic, musical and certain other types of works.

Copyright attaches as soon as the original work is created, and applies to both published and unpublished works. As soon as you type words, click the shutter on your camera (or, for many of you, hit the home button on your iPhone), apply paint to canvas or paper or lay down tracks for your next hit, you’ve got a copyright (with some exceptions).

Copyright is an automatic right and does not require the author to file special paperwork, as is the case for trademark and patent. Registration is required to enforce the rights, but as a matter of right, an author is not required to register anything to get the right to use the “circle c,” showing the work is copyrighted.

One of the many terrific things about copyright is that it comes with a host of exclusive rights that allow the owner to do or authorize a number of things and exercise substantial control over his or her work. The copyright owner has the right to do four things (called exclusive rights):

1.            Reproduce the copyrighted work;

2.            Display the copyrighted work publicly;

3.            Prepare derivative works based on the copyrighted work; and

4.            Distribute copies of the copyrighted work to the public by sale, rental or lending, and/or to display                the image.

I am more upset about my picture being named May Day!! and somewhere

else Mary in the Garden, than the fact

that someone else is making money from it.