There is a lot of time and effort that goes into creating a logo that accurately represents your band. As such, it's important to take the proper steps to protect your art so you have some recourse if infringement occurs.
For the most part, band logos can be considered an original and creative form of art - assuming the logo is more than just the name of the band without an artistic element. As such, they can be protected under Copyright Law as a Visual/Artistic work.
Music has provided some interesting lessons. Some musicians and the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) have aggressively pursued end-users who download copyright protected music in ways few anticipated. It used to be believed that it was simply impossible to try and stem the tide of illegal music downloads. Why try? But some in the music industry took up the challenge and devoted tremendous financial resources to pursue music copyright infringers.
In order to protect your band logo under copyright law, all you have to do is put your logo in a tangible form (on paper, on CD, on a hard drive, on the back of a candy wrapper, etc.). Once it's in this fixed form, the creator owns the exclusive rights to produce or reproduce the art.
Although you automatically own the copyright to the logo artwork the moment it is put in a fixed form, it's best to have taken further steps to prove to the courts that the work was originally yours should someone (perhaps another band) steal your logo or a big portion of it
Copyright transfers were greatly clarified by the 1976 revision of the Copyright Act. The courts had muddied the presumption that the transfer of a copy of a work carried with it the presumption that the creative rights were transferred as well. That is now definitively not the case. Section 204 of the 1976 revision fully details the procedure for transferring ownership of a copyrighted work. A copyright holder must sign a written statement of conveyance expressly transferring his or her ownership of the copyright to the recipient. Otherwise, there has been no transfer of the original work to the recipient.
Copyright protection is not entirely contingent upon registered one's work with the Copyright Office; however, an action for infringement cannot be pursued until one registers with the Copyright Office, a process that can take up to six months. To register one's work, the Act requires one copy and the requisite fees be deposited with the Office. If the work is published, two copies of it are required.
The 1976 revision of the Copyright Act greatly simplified the law and expanded protections for original works. It is always good to find an attorney familiar with copyright law and the Act's revisions if you are interested in protecting your original work
Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez Higueras
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