Copyright Information
for Artists

a review by Rena Klingenberg

Copyright for Artists

eBook by Sarah Feingold

Have you ever wondered whether you can . . .

• copyright your original jewelry designs to protect them?


• legally use images, ephemera, and fabrics in your mixed-media jewelry?


• change someone else's jewelry design by a certain percentage - to inspire your own creations?


• trademark your jewelry business name or slogan?

Sarah Feingold - a jewelry designer who's also an attorney - provides helpful guidance on these and other legal matters that jewelry artists need to be aware of in her ebook, Copyright for Artists.

Readability

What impresses me about this guide to United States copyright issues for handmade business is that it's so clear and easy to understand.

It's a very readable 38 pages, which I easily read in one sitting and came away enlightened.

Format

I really liked the way Sarah formatted her ebook to be a reference guide you can also use when you want to quickly look something up.

She includes helpful examples, lists, step-by-step procedures, visual charts - and she answers several frequently asked questions.

You may already know Sarah as Etsy's in-house attorney, and the author of Etsy's "Sarah Says" articles on legal issues for handmade businesses.

If so, you know that she understands our perspective as jewelry artists just as well as she understands the legal issues that affect a handmade jewelry business.

So I also found it very helpful that Copyright for Artists covers not just how to protect your own work - but also what you can legally use in the works you create.

For protecting your own works,
you'll learn and understand:

• Which creative works can (and cannot) be protected by copyright, trademark, and other forms of legal coverage.


• The benefits of copyright registration.


• Step by step how to go through the copyright registration process, both online and offline; (Sarah says, "Copyright registration requires one form, one fee, and zero attorneys" - and then she shows you exactly how to do it).


• Whether you can register several of your works together for one fee.


• Step by step how to accurately complete the Visual Arts (VA) Form for registering jewelry and other forms of art.

Your copyright questions answered:

Sarah includes a very helpful section with six pages of artists' most-asked questions (and her answers) about copyright - including:

• What items should I register for copyright?


• If I put my work online, can someone steal it?


• When am I allowed to use copyrighted material like fabric, paper, or images?


• What if I want to make a collage?


• Can I use quotes in my work?


• What is "poor man's copyright" - and is it a valid form of legal protection for your work?


• Can I copyright a phrase, a slogan, or a logo?


• How do I obtain an international copyright?


• How do I know if a work has copyright protection?


• What do I do if I think someone has infringed on my copyright?


• Can I use part of someone's work if I change the work?


• Where can I get a copy of Form VA and other forms?


• . . plus 23 more questions.

By the end of this section, I found that Sarah had answered pretty much everything I could think of asking about jewelry copyright issues.

I love the
handy visual charts:

Copyright for Artists also includes two excellent quick-reference charts at the end of the book:

• Sarah's "Feingold's Visual Arts Copyright Summary" - a very helpful visual chart that distills the basics you need to know.


• Sarah's "Feingold's Intellectual Property Comparison Chart" - a clear, visual summary of each type of protection, what it covers, the benefits, and costs.

I think these two copyright-at-a-glance charts alone are worth the price of the book.

Overall

Overall, I feel this book is a helpful, easy-to-understand guide to copyright issues for any handmade business.

You can download this 38-page ebook now - and learn how to protect your original work, as well as what you can legally use in your jewelry creations.

Click here
to learn more about
Sarah Feingold's

Copyright for Artists