There are legal and technical things you can do to reduce risk but you should start with the knowledge that any image on the web can be copied from the web and watermarks are weak protection because they are easily removed. Legally, the creator of art owns a copyright to it as soon as it is created. Registration of the copyright significantly enhances the chances of successfully stopping an infringement and recovering any financial losses. Unpublished works can be registered as an ordered collection with one application form and one fee, making the usual fifty dollar copyright fee quite modest for a large collection of images. Several significant advantages of registration are listed on page seven of the US Copyright Office’s publication,
Copyright Basics. An authoritative and clear discussion of the legal aspects of copyright law is on Ken Kaminesky's
blog. Although any image on the web can be copied, there are things you can do to make it more difficult. The
Cambridge in Color site does a really nice job explaining this.
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