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Beginner Tip:
Understand Copyright Basics
by Larisa Thomason,
Senior Web Analyst,
NetMechanic, Inc.
Just about everything on the Web is protected by copyright law. That includes images, music, page content, and multimedia. It's important to understand how copyright affects the content you put on your site and the way you link to other sites. With copyright law, what you don't know can hurt you!
It's All Copyrighted!
Actually, it just seems that way sometimes. In the United States, as in many other nations, you should assume that content and images you find on the Web are protected by copyright unless the site specifically notes that visitors are free to copy the content.
That's because an original work is protected by copyright even if the creator doesn't file any formal paperwork or even include a copyright notice on the Web page. When you create a Web page with original content and images, you are the copyright owner unless you specifically give the rights to someone else or grant the work to the public domain (which means that anyone can use it).
Many people don't understand that. The freewheeling nature of the Internet and World Wide Web - which were created to share information - leads many users to think that if they see an image or an article on someone's Web page, then they're free to use it on their own page.
In reality, they're free to use it on their page only if they get permission from the author. Any other use violates the author's copyright protection.
Protecting Your Copyright
Be proactive. Take steps to protect your page content before you have a problem:
- Copyright Notice: Include a copyright notice at the bottom of each page of your site (a server-side include is good for this). This is the traditional format:
Copyright 2000-2002
Your Name or Company Name Here
All Rights Reserved
Even without a copyright notice, your work is protected, but it doesn't hurt to remind people!
- Register Your Copyright: You'll want to formally register your copyright if you have a really important creation and you expect to make money from it.
Registering your copyright helps establish that you created the work by a specific date.
The Copyright Office at the US Library of Congress maintains an extensive Web site where you can read more about copyright registration and download copyright registration forms.
- Make sure you really own the work. Consider this situation: you hire a freelance Web designer to create your Web site. You have a contract that states the site requirements and timeline, but it doesn't mention anything about a copyright.
Who owns the copyright in this case? Your Web designer does, because copyright law specifically gives all rights to the contractor unless otherwise stated. Note that if the Web designer is an employee - instead of a contractor - the work belongs to the employer.
So if you hire someone to design your site, create graphic images, Flash animations, etc., avoid copyright problems by making sure that the contract specifically gives you the copyright to the work. Most freelancers are fine with that arrangement as long as you allow them to display the work as part of their portfolios.
Many webmasters are anxious to protect their entire Web site - images, content, and even HTML code - and resort to tricks like disabling the right mouse button with JavaScript. Check out our September 2002 newsletter story to learn about more reliable ways to stop code and image theft.
Violating Copyright With Links
This is a topic that either scares webmasters or enrages them - sometimes both! The World Wide Web is based on the concept of hyperlinks. Without them, the Web just isn't a web of ideas and information.
Most Web sites welcome external links because they help increase the site's link popularity score. Can you seriously imagine telling other sites NOT to link to you? Well some sites really do discourage linking - even to the point of filing suit against the offending sites!
At issue here is the concept of "deep linking" where one site links to a site's internal pages instead of to the home page. Deep linking is useful for visitors because you get taken directly to the particular page that interests you. However, sites that rely on ad revenue aren't nearly as excited about it.
In a groundbreaking case, the Danish Newspaper Publisher's Association sued an online news-feed site, Newsbooster, for violating intellectual property laws with deep linking - and won!
Then in the United States, Runner's World magazine threatened to sue the much smaller site, LetsRun.com, because LetsRun linked directly to an online interview with an Olympic runner instead of linking to the home page. That dispute was resolved amicably, but the issue remains alive in many other situations.
Here's what some sites allege about deep links:
- They let visitors bypass site registration screens and directly access site content.
- Visitors don't see the paid advertising on the home page, so advertisers are shortchanged.
- They may violate the site's terms of use which specifically state the other sites can only link to the home page.
These high-profile disputes notwithstanding, your biggest problem with links will come when you try to increase your link popularity score. Or when you get inundated with requests from other webmasters who want you to link to their sites instead of ordering you to stop!
Copyright disputes can be nasty and expensive; it's far better to be safe than sorry.
For the record, we'd love to have you link to the NetMechanic site. Test your site with HTML Toolbox and use it to repair coding errors. Then brag about your commitment to site quality and display your site's NetMechanic's Star Performer award on your page.
Note: The information in this article is not intended as legal advice. Please consult an attorney when considering copyright issues.
For a good reference on copyrights written in plain English, visit the GigaLaw.com Web site.
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