Production Company Launches Copyright Protection and Defense Web Page

Prairie Pictures, a Texas-based film and video production company,has launched a web page designed to provide information to helpcopyright owners protect and defend their copyrights. The page, locatedat www.prairiepictures.com, was created to primarilybenefit professional motion picture film and video photographers, butprovides helpful information to others as well.

"The copyright protection and defense web page was created as theresult of many requests we received from photographers," says PrairiePictures president Martin Lisius. "Because we deal so much with thedistribution of stock footage, we provide information about copyrightto photographers on a regular basis. Several photographers asked us tocreate a page that would inform them, and others, about copyright lawsthat apply to film and video production."

The web page provides information about basic copyright law, how toregister works with the U.S. Copyright Office, including a link to theappropriate forms, and how to defend a work that has been infringed.Other resources provided include a page on the benefits of registeringcopyrighted works, commentaries on "fair use," and copyright piracy,and links to other copyright related sites.

"We would like creators of copyrighted works, like shooters andindependent producers, to understand that they are not only creating anart form, but intellectual property," Lisius says. "I deal withcopyright pirates on a regular basis. They sit back and let creativepeople do the work, and then they take what they want. We wantcopyright owners to know that it's not their property unless they canprotect and defend it."