WELCOME TO: ProRodeoPix.com Copyright Notice

Copyright Information

What Is A Copyright? Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of original works of authorship, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works. This protection is available to both published and unpublished works. Section 106 of the 1976 Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to authorize others to do the following:

To reproduce the work in copies;

To prepare derivative works based upon the work;

To distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audiovisual work;

Who Can Claim Copyright? Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright. The Copyright Law (U.S. Copyright Act) provides protection against reproducing a copyrighted work “in whole or any substantial part and by duplicating it …exactly or by imitation or simulations,” without permission of the photographer or copyright owner.

Who Owns The Copyright To A Photograph? Under the law, a photographer owns the copyright to work that he or she has created. The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. Copyright is secured automatically when the work is created, and a work is "created" when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time. "Copies" are material objects from which a work can be read or visually perceived either directly such as a photograph or with the aid of a machine or device, such as books, videotape, or microfilm. In accordance with Federal and International Copyright Law all of our images are automatically copyright protected upon creation. This means we, Al Berger, Cunningham Studio and/or Pro Rodeo Pix, own and control all rights to all images whether they are printed photographs or digital images on our website. It is unlawful to reproduce or duplicate images in any form, by any means, without the prior written permission of Al Berger, Cunningham Studio and/or Pro Rodeo Pix.

How Long Does The Copyright Last? A work that is created (fixed in tangible form for the first time) on or after January 1, 1978, is automatically protected from the moment of its creation and is ordinarily given a term enduring for the author's life plus an additional 70 years after the author's death.

What Are The Legal Penalities And Fines? Infringements of the U.S. Copyright Law will be investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and prosecuted by the United States Attorney in the United States Federal Court where you may be subject to paying Statutory Damages in the amount of $150,000 as well as court costs and attorney's fees. Additionally you may be subjected to civil penalities and fines in U.S. District Court.

What Can I Do If I Need Copies? Call us! Call 509-924-1700 and we will work with you to provide the copies of the image or images you need. We will produce the copies from the original negative or digital file. This insures you have the highest quality reproduction available and at a lower cost to you. Since we will make sure the color and printing are done to the highest industry standards. We will produce as many copies as you need at the sizes you require for your needs. We can even produce digital images for business uses or even just screen savers for a personal website.

Without prior written permission from Al Berger, Cunningham Studio and/or Pro Rodeo Pix, our images may not be used, in whole or in part, in any means whatsoever but not limited to, for any business, advertisement, digital imaging, and presentations or in publications, et.al. No images may be reproduced, photocopied, digitally altered, enhanced, by any form or any means; nor in anyway may the images be copied, printed, transferred or reproduced onto cards, calendars, shirts, hats, plates or any media or be released on the Internet et.al.

Don't rationalize that you are helping the copyright owner by advertising their work for FREE. We will decide when and where we want to advertise or display our photos.

We are more than happy to discuss any special needs that you may have for our images. If you have questions or would like to obtain written permission to use an image, you can contact us at our e-mail address order at ProRodeoPix dot com (just take out the spaces and change the dot to a ".").

Happy Trails!

3623 S. Smith St., Spokane, WA 99223 (509) 924-1700