Protecting Intellectual Property Online
Basic understanding of copyright is necessary in order to protect your work as well as to protect yourself from lawful actions that may be brought against you from taking others work. The first copyright law was introduced in 1570. This law protected books and illustrations. In 1980 the law was expanded to include software programs. Copyright gives the exclusive right to make copies, distribute copies to the public, prepare derivative works, perform the work in public, and display the work in public. When no one can claim to have said rights, the work in in "public domain".
To obtain copyright is simple. If you made it, you own it. The copyright is already yours. Its best to register your work with the US Copyright office. It is not mandatory, but a good idea to protect yourself from others trying to claim your ideas as their own. Also, including a copyright notification on copies distributed is helpful. The copyright notice has three parts: a © , the word copyright, or the abbreviation Copr. Countries have agreed to adhere to the copyright protection if the work holds the © symbol. The second part is the year the work was made, and the last part is the name of the owner of the copyright.
The copyright notice should be placed where everybody can see it. If it is on the Web, it should be on every page. It should also be placed on disc labels, or permanently attached to the storage medium. Registering your copyright for a computer program, photograph, or written document might not seem important to you, until someone tries to steal it from you. If you can prove you registered it first, the copyright will go to you. If not, the other person could gain the credit, along with profits. So, it is very important to register your item.
Trademark usually applies to protecting a unique item for a company, or organization. It usually applies to names, but sometimes includes graphic representation. If putting a trademark online, one needs to be aware of how easy it is for others to copy and possibly destroy it's reputation or identity. Visit www.law.cornell.edu/topics/trademark.html for more information.
There are four components protected: selection of content, internal coordination of the content, arrangement of all elements of the database, and the content itself. Copyright may apply to any parts, without including the others. Accumulating and sorting information is able to be copyrighted, while simply alphabetical information is not.
Protecting your copyright involves you contacting the infringer and letting that person know of your rights to the material in question. If the individual is not willing to comply, you have the right to take legal action through the courts. However, this is a costly and tricky endeavor that should be considered carefully. Because of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works treaty of 1886, countries that participate in the treaty offer reciprocation. Please visit www.wipo.org for more information on this topic.
With a lot of information available on Copyright, Trademarks, laws, treaties, and international reciprocity, it is easy to be lulled into a false sense of security. Gelman believes your time and money would better be spent improving your product, widely distributing it, and building strong relationships with your customers rather than defending your rights to your product.
