If you own or design websites you need to know a bit about copyright law. This page is not an authorititave legal document but will act as a guide to your rights and responsibilities regarding copyright.
I have never understood why there was a debate about whether copyright laws applied to the Internet. You do not need to be a legal eagle to know what is right, fair and reasonable.
Copyright is simply right, fair and reasonable - the author of published material 'owns' the copyright - which means that ONLY THE AUTHOR has the RIGHT to COPY the material, or give permission for it to be copied. Copyright applies to all the content of websites, including design elements and styles, images and the HTML coding, not just the words.
You might be given permission to use someone else's content but that does not give you copyright. You are using their content under licence. If you use someone else's content, you should show THEIR copyright to acknowledge their ownership. And it is usual to thank them for using their material, too. A common way to show your appreciation is with a hypertext link to their website, when you mention their copyright.
Copyright law applies to all websites but the details of laws may vary by country. International copyright law follows the "Berne Convention" and the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC) - agreements between member countries. You must follow International Copyright Protection Standards to protect your websites, and those of your clients. It's simple enough - all you have to do is to show the word 'Copyright', the © symbol, the date of first publication and the Copyright Owner's name, like this:
Copyright © 1995 Linn Barringer
A copyright notice should appear on every page of your site, located in a place that gives reasonable notice of copyright - maybe in a 'included' footer or navigation bar.
The date is the year the work was first created, either on computer or paper - whether shown publicly on a website or not. Copyright protection typically expires seventy years after the author's death. So, for example, consider a 1904 photograph, taken by 24-year-old photographer who lived to be 80 and, therefore, died in 1960 - copyright would expire in 2030.
Copyright protects(?) you from anybody copying part or all of your website content and claiming it as their own. Of course, it doesn't actually STOP anyone doing that! And, of course, this is a two-way rule. You cannot take others' work and claim it as yours, either.
A copyright notice shows that you own your entire website. This includes everything. I won't list all the things it includes, to avoid confusion that the list is exhaustive. It is easier to understand that everything means everything.
It's not complicated. It is right, fair and reasonable.
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