Guys and girls - a friend is starting a artwork business online & he's wondering if this copyright statement is too unfriendly / harsh?

[Anonymous]

Like they are a fantastic artist but as with anything online potential theft is a given. This auto populates underneath the particulars, sells button, etc. of all images.

Not too harsh

Too harsh

[Anonymous]

It's an amateur move and shows a complete ignorance of copyright law. The work is copyrighted as soon as you create it, with or without any notice. The only reason for the notice is to prove a copyright under the federal statute, and for that all you need to say for that is Copyright 2023 Joe Smith. In any event, hardly anyone ever brings a copyright action, it's massively expensive to do (well over $100,000 in legal and court fees alone, and that's if you win), and 99% of the time your work isn't good enough to make any money anyway, so who's going to want to steal it anyway?

[Anonymous]

As an artist I don’t believe it’s harsh. People really underestimate artists and their works and think just because we post images of our work to advertise and sell that it’s okay to sell and distribute themselves. It is a fair warning.

[molonski2]

Copyright should be written by this legal representation , and its them he should be asking , not a web forum.

[TheSpaceGnome]

No thats standard practice and definitely not too harsh.