Your web site and marketing materials are protected by copyright.

Copyright is a form of intellectual property law that protects the authorship of original works of fiction, non-fiction, music and lyrics, poetry, plays and screenplays, computer software, and architecture. On your web site, copyright protects original text as well as original artwork, music, sound recordings.

Instant copyright: Just add ink

You own the copyright on your work as soon as you put it into a perceptible, tangible form. As soon as you jot it onto notepaper or type it up on a MS Word doc, the copyright is yours. It doesn’t have to be “formally” published first. In fact, ink isn’t even a requirement: A computer file is sufficiently perceptible and tangible.

You do not need to register a copyright for it be to valid. The copyright exists as soon as your work is created. There are reasons why it can be worth formally registering copyright (consult a lawyer, which I am not, for advise on this) but you don’t need to keep your work top secret until the registration process is complete—you already have copyright protection.

A copyright symbol is not necessary, but it is wise to put a © on your company brochures, publications and web site. Nonetheless, lack of the symbol is not lack of the protection.

What About “Work For Hire”?

If a company hires a writer (me, for example) the company owns the copyright on the work the writer produces. The company is considered the author of the work, because they wanted it prepared and they paid for it.

Although you and your writer can agree to let the writer retain the copyright, it’s rare that a writer wants the copyright. There is no advantage to me to “own” Web content once I’ve written it. I can’t re-sell it; who wants Web content that’s identical to someone else’s? It’s easier for me to write fresh content for each client.

Don’t infringe!

Some seemingly benign practice are copyright infringement:

• Downloading photos from someone else’s web site is infringement, even if it is of their cute pet kitty.
• Copy-and-pasting text for your term paper or corporate white paper is infringement. You can use someone else’s information, re-written in a form distinctly your own.

You can quote small portions of a copyrighted work without infringing on copyright. However, there is no firm rule as to what is “small portion.”

Ask permission

You might feel sure the author would say Yes; nonetheless, the author must actually say Yes.

Perhaps you find an article on the local animal shelter’s Web site that would interest the members of your dog training group. You’d like to include the article in the next newsletter you mail to the group, with mention that it was written by WhatzerName from the animal shelter. Nope, no can do, not without WhatzerName’s permission. It’s as easy as sending an email or making a phone call!

You are permitted, without author’s permission, to:

• Quote a sentence or two of an article, and provide the name of the author.
• Insert a link to the article, if it is available on the web.

Tip o’ the Iceberg

This is merely a brief introduction into copyright. You can learn more in the article on my web site or from the US Copyright office.