copyright to "example.com"

but it's not a LLC or anything

[ergophobe]

I'm just wondering about the following situation. Let's say

- I run "example.com"
- "example" is not incorporated, has not filed a "doing business as" declaration or anything else that legally says that I own it, other than the fact that the domain registration is in my name
- I say all copy and images are copyright "example"

Is there still any copyright protection? What's the minimum I need (USA, California if that matters) to be able to have copyright protection for my materials copyrighted under "example" rather than my name?

Thanks

Tom

[SkyDog]

You are protected by copyright law because you authored the website, not because you post a copyright on your website.

[ergophobe]

I knew that. Really, I knew that!

I just forgot that was the case. So the copyright notice serves to tell people that someone is asserting that right. I can then assert it based on authorship, not the notice. Makes perfect sense.

Thanks

[StupidScript]

Now your concern is proving your ownership in court. If you are qualified as an expert computer witness or have one who is qualified in California to testify on your behalf, you may be able to do that based on file creation timestamps from the server.

Most folks follow the copyright procedures in place at the US Library of Congress to ensure that when the time comes to defend their ownership, they have a well-recognized legal trail to rely on for that defense.

The bottom line is that while you are allowed to place the copyright notice on your work as you have done, and in fact your work is technically copyrighted from the moment it is created, the trick is proving that in court when a challenge is presented. Make sure you go the extra mile by registering your work with the Copyright Office.

[ergophobe]

I've actually got copyright on a few books and booklength works and these are registered, so I understand that process more or less and the advantages. These, however, are discrete works, on paper to which no further content can be added.

What I've never fully understood is how it works on a website, in the sense that I want new work (i.e. new pages) to be protected as they are created. Ideally, too, people who contribute pages (i.e. articles) would have their copyright protected either directly or indirectly through me.

The model is more like that of a serial or periodical, but the US Copyright Office would seemingly define such a website as a literary work.

Tom

[ergophobe]

Subsequent research....

Based on section on revisions{/url] in USCO Circular #66, "Copyright Registration for Online Works" I believe that two sections could pertain

For individual works, however, there is no blanket registration available to cover revisions published on multiple dates.
....
a frequently updated online work may constitute an automated database. A group of updates, published or unpublished, to a database, covering up to a 3-month period within the same calendar year, may be combined in a single registration.

So basically, you would have to either register each article to the site as it is written (too expensive) or try to get in under the provisions for databases and register 4x/year. See also [url=http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ65.html]Circular 65 [copyright.gov] on copyrighting automated databases.

As for my contributors, they would, presumably, be covered under standard copyright rules governing contributions to collective works.