One thing as one must know as a photographer is that copyright infringement can happen at any given moment, almost surely when you least expect it. A quote in our book summerizes the whole copyright thing in a simple saying, "It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when". Keeping this in your mind at all times and guarding your ass will save you heartbreak over stolen work for years to come, but how does one go about that?
A way to go about it is registering your work as soon as you create it, for copyrights exists as soon as the art is created. You do this by registering your work systematically using the Form VA (Visual Arts). This way it is legally registered by law, so if you ever find your art work stolen, you can meet up with your attorney and sue the culprit for a lot of money.
Another way, which requires less work is inserting in your metadata your name the copyright and the date thaat way, if it ever is stolen, and you become aware, there is some sort of copyright claim on it so I can sue them, or make them halt their production.
If ever you find yourself being accused of infringement, you must rid the pictures you used that you basically stole and forget about it, if they pursue you with a lawyer, that's when it's time to get serious, but usually they just forget about it as long as you stop using the picture stolen and you manage to scare you, they'll be happy.
And that is Copyright 101.
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