Copyrighting/watermarking photos

[scriptkat]

I should probably have figured this out by now but I need to know about copyrighting and watermarking my photos. A friend doing a search for images for a seminar (for volunteers at the cat rescue I volunteer my photography for), found my images on random sites uncredited. I have Elements 8; I should be able to do it there, right? Anyway, what are my image rights in this case? Can I follow up with the sites that she found my photos on?
I have a photoblog and I post on my photography Facebook page, and I also have a Flickr account (not all of the photos public tho, but the cat rescue site ones are). My photos are also used by the cat rescue, so they could have come from any of those places. I usually write in text/'sign' my name on my images, but probably not across a crucial part so that they are not useful to someone else.
It's very sweet of my friend to say 'well your photos are famous!' but I just feel ripped off! It's Internet theft, I tell you!
Any advice is much appreciated - I've already beaten myself up about letting them be stolen uncredited in the first place, so it's not necessary to go there
Thanks!!
~ K
(*please note the image upload was from my iPhone, not from my laptop; I just wanted to give you an idea as to what I've been doing with my name on my photos...)

 

[Big Mike]

There are many previous threads on this topic, try searching around and do some reading.

In a nutshell, your images are copyrighted the instant you take them, but you would have a heck of a time suing someone for money, if you don't register them with the copyright office. You can register one or thousands of images at a time, for a small fee.
Although, it doesn't sound like you want financial retribution, you just want the theft to stop. Well, firstly you could contact the sites where you see your images, and ask them to be taken down. You could contact the company that is hosting that web site, and let them know, and ask to have the site taken down (don't know if they will, but they would rather do that than get sued).

As for protecting your images...yes, watermarking your image might help, but that's not certain...some people will steal anything available, and if you put your images on-line, they are available.
https://www.google.ca/search?source...1544l0l14160l23l22l0l2l2l0l175l1824l16.4l20l0

 

[KmH]

What you send the offending web sites is called a DMCA takedown notice. (Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Digital Millennium Copyright Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

It is a legal document.

As Mike mentions, until your copyrights are registered with the US Copyright Office - www.copyright.gov - you have no legal leverage you can use to compel anyone to remove anything.

Help! I’ve Been Infringed!

DMCA Takedown | Photo Attorney - several articles are in the list.

Copyright statements and watemarks do not deter Internet image theft. They are fairly easily removed by cropping or using other image editing techniques.

Many mistakenly justify their theft by deciding they are doing you a favor by helping more widely distribute your photos.

The only sure image theft deterent is to not put your images online.