:: Web Copyright Issues ::.

Globalization and rapid pace of technological change have made copyrighting tough to enforce and more difficult to manage. Some people maintain that anything posted for the public should be "free" to everyone. In many foreign cultures, intellectual property in and of itself is considered free - a new idea or discovery can not be considered to have value in and of itself, only the products and services that it can be used to produce have value.

How is copyright law defined for the web?

Existing Copyright law and Fair Use policies do not adequately address current Web communications practices and technologies. To even view a page on the Internet, you have essentially copied it to your computer! Copyright law is still largely undefined for the web, but the courts have ruled that the same copyright law that applies to print materials applies to online materials.

Can I copyright my web site? How much does it cost?

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, "The original authorship appearing on a website may be protected by copyright. This includes writings, artwork, photographs, and other forms of authorship protected by copyright. Procedures for registering the contents of a website may be found in Circular 66, Copyright Registration for Online Works."

Nowadays you can easily purchase federal copyright protection for your web site. For only $16.95 you can register your site with the U.S. Copyright Office using godaddy.com's c-Site® service.

Can I use clip art and images I download off the web?

There are many sites that offer clip art, backgrounds, horizontal rules, and so forth. These type of sites generally allow you to use their stuff for free as long as you don't use it on a site like theirs (that offers clip art, backgrounds, etc.). Images are not typically offered for free, but there are sites (see related links below) that sell stock images and art for a modest price. Before right-clicking and saving any image for use on your site, you should email the site first, specifying in what context you would like to use their image and asking permission to do so. If you steal someone's image, then modify if to the point where it really doesn't look anything like the original, then the new image would probably qualify as your own.

Royalty-free versus Stock Photography and where you can obtain these types of images.

Royalty Free images usually end up as a collection and are sold on a CD-ROM. The images can be used over and over in multiple sites (buy once, use many times). Stock Photos can be licensed and used in only one place with that license. If you want to use the photo in another place, you need another license (unless your licensing agreement specifies otherwise). There are sources of both in our Related Links below.

How do I protect my own site?

The creator of a document, or image is considered the owner. You can place a copyright symbol or text on your document to remind web visitors of this. You can go one step further by registering with the U.S. Copyright Office (see below).

Copyrights are interesting topic. One key to remember is that having something copyrighted in your name is not as important as actually controlling the copyright. For example, a book might be copyrighted in my name; however, I don't control the copyright if I give the right to the publisher.

See the link below to find out how to protect images on your site from those awful right-clickers.