Protect your online wealth: Copyright your website

Article: Protect your online wealth: Copyright your website

Your website can be considered as part of your wealth when you use it as a tool to achieve financial objectives or personal goals. With all the time, money, and energy you invest in your website, you should protect your online property by copyright your website.

It's not known whether some of the ways to copyright websites
are invented (incredible!), or those are the ways the laws and
procedures in some countries state so. In a legal case, you
can say that all evidence should be presented in court, but
there're strong, weak, or worthless evidence.

Some of the ways to copyright a website, which are found on the
Internet, are: Print out the website (tons of papers are needed
for a super large site!), put it in an envelope, and mail this
sealed envelope (certified or registered) to yourself. This
costly "Post Office Copyright" uses the date on the envelope as
the date your website and its contents have begun to exist. And
another version is printing out the website and have it notarized
as legal documents. Another way is copy the whole website to an
email, attach its images to this email, email it to yourself,
and use this email as legal documents.

The United States government Copyright Office has a good
information on online works you can find in Circular 66. In it,
you'll find the proper forms used for copyright, information
on how to register your work, the application, what to deposit,
and the filing fee. Use the form that corresponds to the type
of authorship being registered, for example:

Form TX with instructions - literary material, including computer
programs and databases

Form VA with instructions - pictorial and graphic works,
including cartographic material

Form PA with instructions - audiovisual material, including any
sounds, music, or lyrics

Form SR with instructions - sound recording, excluding sounds
accompanying an audiovisual work

Form SE with instructions - a single issue of a serial

Form SE/GROUP - a group of issues of a serial, including daily
newsletters

Form GR/CP - a group of contributions to a periodical.
(This form must be used in conjunction with Form TX, PA, or VA.)

Some of the forms are simple that a knowledgeable site owner
can fill out the forms by himself and save several hundred
of dollars in legal fees.

If the work contains more than one type of authorship, use
the form that corresponds to the predominant material.
For example, if your website contains mostly text material,
you can use form TX.

If your website is revised or updated, you may need to pay
the fee and register a revised version of your site again,
as said in Circular 66.

About two months after sending the copyright application form
and the required items, assuming everything is done correctly,
the Library of Congress's Copyright Office will send you the
Certificate of Registration (in a good stock paper form) which
attests that registration has been made for your work. The
information on the certificate has been made a part of the
Copyright Office records. This piece of paper may be required
before filing an infringement lawsuit.

As the Internet continues to evolve, many things may change
including copyright procedures; therefore, you need to contact
the Copyright Office or your lawyer for current information.

(Disclaimer: This article is not a legal advice. Please seek
professional advice or consult with your Internet-law attorney
for your particular situation.)

Article: Protect your online wealth: Copyright your website
By John Nguyen and Associates
Developers of Savingsforyou.net and Orange County Business Directory, CA