As a photographer, understanding the need and the process for copyrighting images can be overwhelming. Binded, the online company formerly known as Blockai, just released a tool that greatly simplifies the photography copyright process for no additional fee.
Binded’s mission is to make creativity the world's greatest asset. As part of that mission, they have set out to make the copyrighting process as simple as possible. With the release of their registration tool, you can now upload your photos to their website and they will handle the process for you, for free. This is infinitely easier than navigating the U.S. Copyright Office’s website and submitting your images for copyright through their system.
Once Binded handles the copyrighting process for you, their website provides a central location online to store all of your copyrights in one place. In addition, they will monitor your copyrighted images, immediately alert you if there are any infringements, and provide you with a list of actions to take to resolve the situation. Future features also include a Lightroom plug-in for easy uploading, as well as possibilities to help photographers make additional money from their copyrighted work.
The U.S Copyright Office charges a $35 copyright fee per image, or $55 for multiple images, with no limit on the amount. Binded will handle this transaction for you with no additional cost, and promises that their platform will always be free.
In today’s digital age, there is always the possibility of a photographer’s work being stolen. This makes Binded’s free copyright service, ease of use, and infringement monitors a tool that is definitely worth looking into.
[via PetaPixel]
Pardon my reluctance in believing that anything good can come out of something offered for "free" in these times, but how exactly does Binded benefit from such a gratuitous proffer? i.e. what's in it for them?
They're not charging YET. I'd imagine that that's in the future plans.
It MIGHT be that they're planning on brining out a legal team that will be able to handle claims for the users, whereby they take a good portion of any winnings. Similar to how ImageRights does for a subscription service.
The old adage comes to mind. If it sounds too good to be true ....
Not necessarily. They're probably trying to build a large data base of copyrights to monitor. They'll probably offer to sue on your behalf for a share of the winnings.
I say you are correct. Possibly a "Lifelock" type service for copyrights. Actually a good idea for professionals if the it works
Exactly. Image Rights already offers this service. So imagine this would be a type of variation on that.
That would be a very smart business model!
Peter
I'm kinda clueless with copyright laws. Is this one for US people only? Or I can use their service as well?
Copyrighting your photos is much quicker and easier in just about every other country. Just press the shutter button, and your picture is afforded full copyright protection by the courts! Why this isn't the case in the USA is beyond me...
All I'm saying is be very careful. It cost money to run something like this. Maybe they're getting it from advertising. I don't know. You get a basic copyright by posting your copyright notice on your picture anyway. And more extensive copyright cost money and requires registration documentation. And are they actually copyrighting it under your name or some giant blanket copyright that goes back to them. If that's the case you don't own the copyright to your own picture. I'd be very distrustful of something like this. You shouldn't have to guess or figure out what they are doing. Even if a group like this tells you you need to get independent verification.
You get full copyright by just clicking the shutter. The difference is in how much you can sue for if it's infringed upon. Without registration, you would only be able to sue for actual damages. Whereas with registration, you could sue for punitive damages.
These people will likely make their money by offering photographers some sort of online monitoring and enforcement of their copyrights. They'll sue on your behalf if someone does violate your copyright. they'll keep a chunk of the proceeds of course, but you won't have to do anything. If that's their end game, then it makes sense that they'll want as many people as possible having registered with the US copyright office.
Basically all I'm saying is make sure. Anyone selling a product will put themselves in the very best light. Millions of people are scammed every year by great looking deals. Do your own due diligence before accepting any type of offer.
"Binded’s mission is to make creativity the world’s most valuable asset."
If they want professional photographers to take them seriously they should probably come up with a mission statement that wasn't produced by farting rainbow glitter out of their ass.
I tried using Binded to file some images with the US Copyright Office after reading about the service in this article. Unfortunately Binded is currently totally broken, and applications are not being correctly submitted to the Copyright Office. Thankfully the company was forthcoming about it, and offered me a full refund of my application fee. Apparently they've suffered some personnel problems recently, and are unable to get the service working again in the short term.
This just ended up being a bit of a waste of time. Best to just file yourself the old-fashioned way.