Prior to 1999 the fee to copyright work was a mere $20.00 per piece. All one had to do was fill out a form, take a picture of the sculpture, write a check out to the Copyright Office and mail it in. The fee today to copyright original artwork is $45.00 per piece. The complete fee schedule appears on the Web site of the Copyright Office at www.copyright.gov/docs/fees.html.

Today, the copyright laws have changed to the advantage of the artist. Your artwork is immediately and automatically copyright protected from the moment you create it, and you are the exclusive copyright holder. That protection comes into being the moment a piece of sculpture is created. However, it still is a good idea to register your artwork with the U.S. Copyright Office. Registration with the Copyright Office prior to an infringement entitles artists who bring suit to attorney’s fees and statutory damages of up to $150,000.00 for each proven violation of copyright.

Under the Berne copyright convention, which almost all major nations have signed, every creative work is copyrighted the moment it is fixed in tangible form. No notice is necessary, though it helps in legal disputes. The copyright lasts until 70 years after the creator/sculptor dies. Facts and ideas can't be copyrighted, only expressions of creative effort.

The following information is taken from the U.S. Copyright Office web site: www.copyright.gov/register/visual.html.

Visual Art Works

Follow these steps to register your pictorial, graphic, sculptural, or architectural work:

Step 1
Make sure your work is a visual arts work. Visual arts are pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional works of fine, graphic, and applied art.

Step 2
Put into one envelope or package a completed application and a $45.00 payment to "Register of Copyrights."

Step 3
Send the package to:
Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

Your registration becomes effective on the day that the Copyright Office receives your application, payment, and copy(ies) in acceptable form. If your submission is in order, you will receive a certificate of registration in approximately 4 months.

Copyright-related Sites

Here are a few organizations with specific information regarding copyright and other rights (please note that this listing is by no means exhaustive):

The United States Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, SE, Washington, DC
tel: 202.707.3000
Web site: www.loc.gov/copyright/

The Copyright Society of the United States of America
352 Seventh Avenue, Suite 307, New York, NY 10001
tel: 212.354.6401
Web site: www.csusa.org

FACE (Friends of Active Copyright Education)
an affiliated, educational initiative of the Copyright Society of the USA
Web site: www.csusa.org/face/

WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organization)
Headquarters: 34, chemin des Colombettes/ PO Box 18, CH-1211 Geneva 20, Switzerland
tel: (41) 22.338.9111
fax: (41) 22.733.5428

WIPO Coordination Office at the United Nations
2 United Nations Plaza, Suite 2525, New York, NY 10017
tel: 212.963.6813
fax: 212.963.4801
Web site: www.wipo.org