> > English law depends on precedent. To the best of my knowledge there is > no precedent in English law to show the link between ownership of a RAW > file and a TIFF.
I am not well aware of the english preocedures regarding copyright, but I can tell that US law provides protection and allows for further action against infringement if and and only if the image -regardless of the substrate in which it is recorded- has been formally registered in the Copyright Office. No intelligent lawyer will ever take a an infringement case if the image(s) in question are not registered and doing the reverse thinking, images that are registered can be defended agaist such fellonies. Therefore, the metaphysical ,poetic and almost hippie thought that images become copyrighted the moment they are done, only works for conversations at parties and other social engagements. A thorough understanding of the law in your country is the only way to provide enforcement, and I am almost sure that the debate of RAW vs TIFF data as a way to prove ownership is easily put aside by a good lawyer if you have correctly filed your images under the CO. Basically all methods suggested for registration in the US invoque the use of jpegs, only to make allowance to a larger number of files in the same CD delivered to the CO. THere is no need to send 100Mb tif files or raw data that may require special software to be checked or extra time. One very effective method to create a subjective but definite impact on clients is to include a xerox copy of the registration in the CO at the delivery of either the material or the invoice, just to let them know your images have been registered and have full protection under the law. Again, I don't know how fast are the procedures in England, and would like to know ( perhaps some link?), but if the registration process is as fast as it can be made for the CO in the US, it can be used as another way to enforce your legal rights on your Intellectual Property. Regards. Jorge Parra. =============================================================== GO TO http://www.prodig.org for ~ GUIDELINES ~ un/SUBSCRIBING ~ ITEMS for SALE
