by Anne Lane
If your business is investing a lot of money on the content, graphics and overall design in developing its website, you should give some consideration to protecting your ownership of the copyright. Copyright law provides protection for original works of authorship, fixed in a tangible medium of expression. It would apply to written information on your website, to pictures and graphics, as well as to the over all design or "look and feel" of the website.
Copyright protection is vested in the author of the work. This brings up the question of who is the author of your website? This depends on how it was created. If you hired outside firms or individuals to create your website or various pieces of it, they are the authors of the parts that they have created. If your website or any parts of it were created in house by your own employees, then your business owns the copyright for those parts. So, if your business provides the written copy for your website, the business owns the copyright for that part. If an outside company provided graphics, they would own the copyright for that part.
What does this mean for your website? If you're contemplating an agreement with an outside firm to create your website or any parts of it, you can include ownership of the copyright as part of your agreement. If you specify in your contract with the firm that your business will own the copyright to the final product(s), you will be able to use those works for other purposes if you want to. For example, you may want to produce a company brochure that uses the same graphics or copy as your website, if you don't own the copyright you will have to get permission from the company that created them and possibly pay an additional fee. You should also expect that an outside company might want to charge more if you will own the copyright to the work.
What about websites or parts of websites that are created by your business? Copyright protection begins as soon as the work is fixed in a tangible medium. You should begin using the copyright symbol immediately as a method of informing others that you intend to exercise control over the production, distribution, and display of the work. So, if your company has written the copy for your website, go ahead and use the copyright symbol in connection with the copy. If your business has created the entire website, state that your site is copyrighted. Additionally, while it is not necessary to file for copyright protection, doing so will make it easier to seek court enforcement of your copyright. You might want to consult an attorney who practices in the area intellectual property about the advantages and disadvantages of filing.
Find A LawyerFinding a lawyer couldn't be easier! To locate a lawyer in your area choose your state, then your city and then choose a type of law relevant to your situation.