Hi Cinda
 
The cards here are pretty good they have water marks nicely in the middle not hidden so difficult for anyone to really steal it as such, but as for the rest, I just keep all my originals, and all my layers, they are dated etc so you know, everything I do is doubled and placed on disk... my photographs though I give meh do what you want with them I am not really bothered with photos and if someone can make a nicer card with the same pic then I don't really mind, probably be sulky if they sold 100's haha.
 
My stuff is just under the creative common licence thing, seems fine for deviantart etc and everything is watermarked.
 
Not sure if that was a help really I guess if someone borrowed my whole card and called it their own, then i'd probably jump up and down on their faces and rant a bit and get it taken off a site *shows her sweet angelic side*  
 
((Hugs)) -Moonie-

I am like you in that the clip art is saved in pieces and layers to prove I did them.  The bouquet have embedded trademarks before they ever went into the books.
 
Anyway, thank you and wish you all great sells.

Jan, today, when I noticed the change in the site and was not approved on one of the cards - I was sent an email about copyright of clip art and thought I might have to send proof into the company.  After calling the office, I found out that there were changes made in the way cards were uploaded and also the email was just one that is sent each time there are changes.
 
For this reason, I started trying to find out more about the clip art I created.  
 
Also, my Trademark - Copyright attorney is out of Tulsa and did require copies of the book and yes as pages are added, as far as I understand, they have to be sent as well.  The cost was a great deal more than $45 but probably because I used an attorney who only specializes in that process.
 
Thanks for your response.
 
Cinda

This attorney started with the Trademark seach in order to use the trademark on the items created.  I did set down with her and she explained the difference between going to the trouble - also some other items which I could not repeat but when I came to this site, I noticed the importance of clip art.  By the way, clip art to me is what I put together - sometimes using Photoshop items to build.  I believe I am understanding more as I go.
 
One more question, since there are Senior Members here.  All of my training has been online since I live in a remote area.  The programs are great but is there a place one could learn about placing of items on documents - the rules so to speak.  I tend to want to cover the card with stuff but notice it may look better with certain amount of blank space.
 
Anyway, I have learned from Photoshopusers.com and Lyndia.com but wondered if there was another place to learn more about placement, etc that you enjoy?

Hmmmm. I never use anyone else's stuff. If we as artist are asked to make a card, we do it in our own style of drawing and or with pictures we take. Get your name and date of your cards as proof that you made them. We shouldn't have to send in tons of paintings, drawings, photos to the the copy right office one at a time or in piles with a fee ! Sorry for the anger there. I do draw a lot of stuff from time to time and I do date them and sign them.  Though there are some that I have not done so as I have computer colorized a few of my own drawings and started to date and add my name to them as of late. I can't show what I've done this past week as the drawings are adult comic style and I'd never let anyone but my spouse and I look at those . There are times I have a run on every cute stuff and I still don't share those with anyone either . I'm getting older every day and I don't have much time to give to all the different rated stuff I draw my full attention to. I'll have works half done most of the time as I get bored to easy. I'm just waiting til most of the up grades from GCU have been hammered out before I upload anything else .

When you create an image in photoshop, you can attribute to it certain attributes like who created it, the date, tags, etc.  But once it is uploaded to a site (like GCU) those tags and info are lost.  If you have saved that doc on your hard drive with the info and that is the doc that you send to the copyright office (if you decide to do so) all is cool, the doc info should remain intact.  Meaning you are registering the image YOU have created.  But realize that an image uploaded to an online site does NOT retain the embedded photo shop permissions.  But. . . . they (ie GCU can put their embedded copyright on it)  giving you SOME (a little) protection. . . even if you have NOT registered it).
 If you are really concerned about all this, register all your works, or "book" of works as
Cinda suggested. . . if you can afford it..
'e'

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This isn't necessarily true. Individuals and smaller businesses can be awarded sums that are worth going to court for. Larger sums generally require that your work had been registered in the copyright office prior to the infringement, and registered trademarks are also worth fighting for. In the case of a win the courts may also award your costs. I know a couple of individuals, a photographer and the other a digital artist, who were awarded portions of what the infringer "earned" by using the stolen image.
 
In some cases, it isn't about the money, it's about the rights.
 
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For the most part, this is my feeling too, and generally how I deal with images.  
 
I don't usually have an issue with bloggers making use of an image, so long as they give me credit. I do, however, take action if I find an image being used inappropriately. Reports to most webhosts in these cases generally result in the image being removed as long as you can prove you are the copyright holder.
 
Allowing people to "grab" images willy nilly is not going to educate those who don't know any better, and education is a much better way to deal with infringements. If you just allow people to use your work wherever they like without at least contacting them, then they will likely not have any problem doing it again...and again, and again.  
 
There will always be those who steal images because they can - there's no real protection against them, except to not display them on the web.
 
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In most cases, probably not. But that's really a personal choice - some people would be extremely upset by that.
 
In some cases, there will be a problem. Especially if it's a rights-managed image. If it's available all over the web because somebody nicked it and stuck it in their blog you would have a difficult time licensing it after that.
 
As to the work on GCU being too small for anything - that's pretty much true.  
 
The display images really are low-res and small, but, to someone whose can use illustrator or any other similar program, size is not a deterrent. Graphic images can easily be retraced as vectors and voila, you have a copy of the image that will print at any size.
 
There are lots of pitfalls when you display or sell imaging online and you can drive yourself nuts over it, or educate yourself and others to try and minimize the problems a little.
 
If you don't care about your work, one would wonder why you'd bother to sell it all...why not just give it away? There has to be a happy medium I think.