It is always a good practice to include a copyright symbol to your work as it informs people that the work is copyrighted, although, is not necessary to do so by law. Normally, when you create any intellectual work like art, content, photos etc, you instantly and automatically create a copyright as it is your work. There is a certain amount of fees charged for copyrighting your work; however you can do so at your country’s Patent and Trademark office.

There are a lot of people who do not register a copyright for their work. It becomes an issue if anyone uses their material without their permission and tries to make money from it. And apart from this, if you have done some work, and you have not registered it for copyright, then anyone else can do that as you don’t have any proof that you have done that work. Copyright law does not follow any constant standard practice and there are many exclusions and exceptions.

Some people display their work without registering it for a copyright while others think you must register a copyright for every work you do. A lot also depends on where you are going to display your work. Is it going to be displayed on the internet, newspaper or even if it is for your personal collection? Others are of the view, that copyright should only be done if you are able to back it up with legal actions. If someone else has used your work, you can hire a lawyer and send them a legal notice for not using your work. However, if your work is not copyrighted, the legal action can take years to resolve and can get very expensive too.

It is always advisable to get in touch with a copyright lawyer for more information about copyrights and trade marking your work.