Art is everywhere these days. In addition to paintings and sculpture and more traditional art, there has also been a proliferation of digital art in recent years. It's very difficult for any artist to make money these days, but it's even harder when someone sees their art, likes it and then copies it either in their own name or to sell without authorization. Since most artists have a hard enough time making money, it should be a priority to register for copyright protection for their art work. That is the purpose for UK copyright law; your art is your own, it took a lot of work to create and it is important that your creativity is rewarded, but only you should be the one to profit.
In the United Kingdom, as long as your art work is sufficiently original, it qualifies for copyright protection. However, just signing the work yourself may not be sufficient for proving your ownership of your art work and it most certainly can establish that you created it first. Copyright protection can only work when you are able to prove that someone has copied it or otherwise infringed on your work. You must be able to certify to legal authorities that you created the art work and that everything else that is confusingly similar or an exact copy was the first. One way to protect yourself is by registering and making a copyright deposit of your art work in a way that establishes you as the owner of the work and that creates a date certain of its creation.
How We Protect Your Art Work
When you register and make a copyright deposit of your art with Copyright.uk, the protection is instantaneous and lasts for the rest of your life and beyond. Your copyright deposit establishes a date certain of creation of your art work, which will establish priority of copyright. And this deposit serves as incontestable proof of copyright because it is always pristine; it is unalterable by anyone. The deposit of your art work serves as an official witness of your right to your art work as it exists. It becomes frozen in time.
When you file for copyright protection for your art work, your work will be handled by officials who are under a legal obligation to retain your art work and all other deposits in a way that makes them incontestable in a legal proceeding. And your protection reaches well beyond the United Kingdom. When you make a copyright deposit in the UK with Copyright.uk, your copyright protection is valid in all 171 countries that have signed on to the Berne Convention. That means your art work is automatically protected internationally.
