Last updated September 3, 2010
Website Content & Copyrights
Everyone has a website these days. As the Internet continues to grow in popularity and homes across the world go online, a website is a citizen’s or company’s place where they can showcase their products, services, or even their selves. Many people as well as companies, spend countless hours, energy, and creativity into designing their websites. And if their website was professionally designed, there’s no doubt that there is a financial investment at stake. When a company builds or has a website designed, they own the copyrights to that site.
Not only are the appearance of the website under copyright, but the content of the website as well. Any articles, documents, texts, or files that are on your website are under your copyright, unless they expressly say otherwise. For example, some documents, or images are in the public domain however, if your web designer used an image in the public domain and made a derivative work from that image, the new image is now under copyright. As you may imagine, when it comes to website content and design, the issue of copyright is pertinent.
It is very easy to simply copy and paste things from a website that strikes your fancy. Some people may practice this form of content theft without intending to infringe on the website’s owners copyrights. They may have come across an image that they liked and decided to keep it. However, this is still a violation of copyright law. Other content thieves are not as innocent. There are some unscrupulous people that will literally steal your entire website, including your content and graphics. They may even try to register a domain name similar to yours. If you have been notified that someone has stolen your website, you should contact an Intellectual Property Attorney immediately. They will review your situation and will advise you of your rights.
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