Newslines
July-August 2008
Online copyright registration arrives, sort of
As of July, the online registration system — called the electronic Copyright Office or eCO — is now the government’s preferred way to register basic claims to copyright. Advantages of online filing include:
- lower filing fee ($30, versus $45 for paper registrations);
- faster processing time;
- online status tracking of your registration;
- payment by credit or debit card;
- ability to upload the deposit copies of your images directly into eCO as electronic files.
To register your claim electronically, go to the Copyright Office website at www.copyright.gov and click on the eCO logo.
Note, though, that basic is the operative word here. It’s fine for a few images, but the eCO upload will time out after 30 minutes. Thus, to register a big group of images, you will still need to burn them onto a DVD and mail it in. The eCO system allows this.
An alternative method is to download the new interactive-PDF Form CO, fill it out on-screen, then print and mail it with your CD. This replaces the old Form VA, which is still accepted, but is obtainable only by special request. Form CO creates custom bar codes on the paper, allowing the Copyright Office to scan your information rapidly and without typoes.
The advantage is that you can print a second copy for your files. The disadvantage is that you don't save any money; it costs the full $45.
In addition, each Form CO carries a unique serial number, so you must not re-use a saved copy for future registrations. Rather, you must download a new form each time you prepare a submission. (You can cut-and-paste the unchanging information from a master file that you have prepared.) Also, the new form requires the new version 9.0 of Adobe Reader, freely available from Adobe.
In memoriam: Tom Jenkins
Thomas C. “Tom” Jenkins, a member of the Dallas chapter, died of a heart attack on July 7. He was 54 years old. He is survived by a sister, Nancy Wilson of Jackson, Mo; his wife, Lisa; and his 10-year-old son, Andre.
Born on a U.S. military base in Germany, Tom grew up in Calvert, Texas, and Cape Girardeau, Mo. He got interested in photography in high school. He earned a degree from Kansas City Institute of Art in 1974 and did graduate work at the Visual Studies Workshop in Rochester, N.Y. In 1981, he took a post as instructor of advanced photography at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York.
He moved to Texas in 1987 and took a job as assistant photographer at the Dallas Museum of Art. A year later, he was promoted to lead photographer. He went independent in the late 1990s, working with clients such as the Fort Worth Modern Art Museum, Dallas’s Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Museum of Fine Arts and the Rienzi in Houston.
He developed great skill in capturing three-dimensional objects such as sculpture and jewelry. He provided the photography for several books, including Silver in America, 1840-1940: A Century of Splendor; The Artful Table: Great Food from the Dallas Museum of Art League; and A Century of Sculpture: The Nasher Collection.
Memorial contributions are asked for the Andre Jenkins Education Fund in care of Lisa Jenkins, P.O. Box 180545, Dallas, Texas 75218-0545.