ImageRights International today announced the first fully automated copyright registration service designed specifically for the needs of professional photographers, revolutionizing the process for registering photographs with the United States Copyright Office (USCO). Until now, the time, cost, and complexity of registration has deterred 97% of professional photographers from registering their work with the USCO, potentially losing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars in statutory damages from copyright infringement claims. In addition to greatly simplifying the registration process, ImageRights consults with photographers on their copyright registration workflow strategy and serves as their authorized correspondent to the USCO.

“The #1 issue that continues to plague professional photographers is the rampant unauthorized commercial exploitation of their images online,” states Richard Kelly, former president of the American Society for Media Photographers (ASMP). Given that more than 85% of online image use is unauthorized, ASMP, and the industry as a whole, has gone to extraordinary lengths to educate photographers on how critical USCO registration is to protecting the value of their work. However, the registration process is so complicated and confusing and copyright attorney rates for filing registrations are so high that most photographers simply don’t register. “I believe ImageRights has finally solved this problem,” proclaims Kelly.

ImageRights is offering unlimited free registrations for the first 30 days of service to professional photographers who register for or upgrade to an ImageRights Pro or Premier account and one free USCO registration to photographers who register for a free ImageRights Basic account on or before August 31, 2015.

Empowering Photographers to Protect Their Work

US copyright law incentivizes copyright owners to register their work timely with the US Copyright Office. These incentives may include statutory damages up to $150,000 and attorney’s fees. The damages exposure compels infringers to work in good faith towards resolving copyright infringement claims amicably. The goal is for copyright owners to receive proper compensation for the use of their work and for users of copyrighted works to be motivated to properly license creative works going forward. Combined with its other industry-leading copyright enforcement services, ImageRights now offers the first comprehensive copyright management solution on the market. “By automating and integrating the copyright registration, online image search and infringement claim submission processes and by bearing the financial risk of prosecuting infringement claims on behalf of our photographers,” said Joe G. Naylor, president and CEO of ImageRights International, “ImageRights has eliminated the primary impediments to photographers protecting and enforcing their copyrights.”

Pricing and Availability

ImageRights’ USCO Copyright Registration service is immediately available for all registered ImageRights account holders. For complete details and pricing for the ImageRights USCO registration service as well as for the ImageRights Premier, Pro and Basic account plans, visit imagerights.com/pricing.

To learn how the ImageRights USCO Registration service works, see our video at imagerights.com/videos/usco_registration.

For inquiries about ImageRights USCO Registration service or any of our other services, please visit imagerights.com/contact_us.

ImageRights is empowering photographers around the world to protect and enforce their copyrights.

View the press release here.