A Few Things You Should Know About Copyrights, Trademarks & Restricted Materials

Before sending your electronic files to Antharia (images, photographs, logos, or text), we want you to be aware of the legal issues involved in using trademarked, copyrighted, and restricted materials. The standards outlined in this document are based on the laws involving trademarks and copyrighted materials; they are here only as examples and you should do you own research as needed. Antharia makes the assumption that all material provided by your company and/or organization is free from infringement and/or that you possess correct releases.

Antharia assumes you will provide us with materials that are free of infringement or property released.

What are Trademarks and Service Marks?
The definition is simple enough: Names, words, logos, and design used to identify services or products are considered trademarks or service marks. The owner of a trademark or service mark has the exclusive right to use or reproduce it. For example, the name “ANTHARIA” is our trademark and no one else can use it without our permission.

What is a Copyright?
A copyright is a form of protection provided to the creators or original works by the laws of the creator’s resident country and through International Treaties. Copyright owners have the exclusive right to reproduce their copyrighted work. They may, however, grant permission to others who wish to reproduce the copyrighted work. Photographers, artists, authors, architects, publishers, singers, writers and composers can all be copyright owners.

The Copyright Notice
Copyright owners may place a copyright notice (for example, © 2004 Antharia, LLC) on their works. However, this notice is not required under the law. Works are still considered copyright-protected without depicting a copyright notice.

According to the current Federal Copyright Laws, it is illegal for anyone to reproduce or assist in reproducing, in any manner or media, a professional photograph without the express written permission of the photographer or studio that took the photograph. This includes stock photography, royalty free, professional photographs, rights-managed, and images.

The law has clearly equipped photographers and studios with a form of protection, called copyright ownership. Under this protection, they have the exclusive right on how and who can reproduce or use their copyrighted photographs. Please note that mere ownership of a copy or print of a professional photograph does not give you the right to copy or modify it.

A workable alternative to using professional photographs would be to make use of royalty free stock photography or, if feasible in your budget, rights-managed images. Antharia can recommend a number of great cost-effective stock photo houses so you can find the perfect image.

For more information regarding copyrights, contact the United States Copyright Office at 202-707-9100.

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