Quick Tip: Register Your Copyright before Posting Photos to Social Media | PDNPulse

If you don’t properly register your copyright for an image that you publish to Facebook, Instagram or another social media platform, you may be limiting your ability to collect damages from someone who steals your photograph. Why? As we explain in our story called “Social Media Copyright Registration: Don’t Get Burned,” U.S. copyright law gives photographers three months from the first date of publication of an image to register the copyright. Unless a photographer registers within three months of first publication, or prior to an infringement that takes place after that, they cannot sue copyright infringers for statutory damages of up to $150,000 per image plus attorney’s fees. Instead, the photographer will have to prove actual damages. That requires coming up with evidence that shows how much an infringer earned using an image—an arduous and expensive process.