I know two artists who filed copyright infringement lawsuits in the past few years. One case was against a major clothing manufacturer, and the other was against a carpet maker for a international hotel chain. The carpet case is pretty well known in the art quilt world, and has opened the eyes of many artists. Because of these cases, and the seriousness of protecting one's work, I have received a copyright on all of the images in my upcoming book The Uncommon Quilter. Now the book itself has a copyright, and each individual image does too, separately.
Applying for a copyright is REALLY easy. Images may be registered in a bulk application. The application for my book included 52 images, cost $45.00, and took just about 4 months to receive the "Certificate of Registration". Information about registering for a copyright can be found on the The US Copyright Office's website. The main information artists need is on the Visual Arts page.
