Forum Moderators: not2easy
I have recently completed a website, with a very catchy name as well as all the content, including text articles and images, are 3 months of hard work. I found another good article on the subject: [webmasterworld.com...]
but I still would like to learn a few more things. What I have done so far is to include a © myexample.com as well as have a 'terms of use' page that clearly states that this content is *mine* and I will not tolerate it being plagiarised. Another interesting link I found was:
[copyright.gov...] (under 'REGISTRATION PROCEDURES'). It basically says that I can copyright my 'work' by posting it to the Library of Congress along with $30. So my qieries are:
a) What does it mean by 'work'; can I print a screenshot from each page of my website and send it to them?
b) What about the name of the website? As I said this is my main concern as it is something very catchy on the subject I am working on. I wouldn't like to see another website popping up claiming the name I found first? The website is not a pure ecommerce site - it is just a travel guide to a place and all revenue comes from adwords etc.
c) I currently live in England, but I may move to a different EU country - does that has a ny effect. My website targets an international audience. My original intention was to make a print of all screenshots, put them in an envelop and post them to myself using 'recorded mail' (so that I have a proof for the date). But that option I mentioned earlier is only $30 and seems much more strong legally. Would it protect the name of my website as well or just the content?
Regards.
The "work" is generally regarded as the content of the site. Burning the site onto a CD is a good way to submit the thing, at least in the USA.
A name (of a business, product, or site) may be trademarked, but cannot, to my knowledge, be copyrighted. The two issues (content versus name affixed to content) are legally quite distinct.
You might want to consult with a copyright attorney in your current jurisdiction.
Eliz.
Although I am not a British citizen (I am an EU citizen) I believe it should be ok to register my copyright in the UK as it is part of EU! I found this:
[patent.gov.uk...]
After looking to that in detail I found this:
[patent.gov.uk...]
which basically says that there is no equivelant service to the one offered in the US, as copyright comes into effect immediatelly after the work is being published. It also says that this doesn't offer any cover for names which is my main concern. The name, hmm, costs £200 for the trademark registration(!). I wouldn't like to spend that amount of money. I think that is really a discrace having to pay £200 to trademank a name as not everyone could affort it but a company. Dunno, I will look if I can post my website in a CD to the US copyright office so at least I have some ground of my work. I am disappointed.
Regards,
Jason
... which basically says that there is no equivelant service to the one offered in the US, as copyright comes into effect immediatelly after the work is being published.
You own copyright to your work the instant it is created regardless of whether you're in the UK, the EU, the USA or anywhere else.
The difference in the USA, which is where the "registration of copyright" comes in, is that by doing so, you are entitled to claim a greater amount of damages than you'd otherwise be awarded had you not done so. It certainly won't stop anyone determined enough from ripping or scraping your content.
As I understand it, registration grants you no more rights than you already have, it simply bumps up damages in a breach of copyright litigation case. (Well it is the most litigious country in the world ;) )
What you seem more concerned about is someone else using your catchy name, in which case you would need to trademark said name to protect against that. This would come under the Copyrights, Design and Patents Act (1989), but is a trademark issue, not a copyright issue.
As you've already found out, this costs around £200 to register, but ask yourself this question. If you believe you're on to a good thing, which is going to generate significant income for you precisely because of the catchy name, isn't it worth an investment of £200 to stop anyone else using the same name?
As I said it is a dilemma because I do not intent to use the website for 'proper' commercial purposes, so from that perspective the £200 tag fee is too high (not to mention that is not a one-time fee - its lasts 10 years). There is also the additional risk of it not being accepted as a trademark: [patent.gov.uk...]
As for now, I ll probably settle with the copyright of my work. As for the name, I have seen many people using their website's name + .com to refer to the website. So if worse comes to worse, I would have to change the name to mywebsitesname.com. After all one thing is for certain; I got the domain name registered and I will keep renewing it so there won't be any chance of loosing it.
Regards
