- While the message has been repeated often enough there should be no confusion, there are still some people who didn't get the memo. Just because something's on the Internet doesn't mean you can grab it and use it for yourself. Worse, there are website owners who know the law but ignore it, claiming ignorance if caught. You can sidestep a legal defense of "innocent infringement" by putting a copyright notice on each Web page, and for blogs, a copyright notice at the beginning or end of the article. The "C" in circle symbol doesn't always come out right on everyone's browser, so write out the word copyright, the year and the name of the copyright holder.
- While you don't want infringement of your work, it can help when excerpts from or references to your work get around. Make it easy for people to refer to your work properly. Request credit and a link to your page for anyone referencing your work, and offer to exchange links. Make it clear, however, that reposting or reprinting of your work, be it text, images or multimedia elements, is forbidden without your express permission.
- You are not required to register your copyright claim. But if you wish to file an infringement suit, you will need to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office. Filing a copyright application online costs $35 as of the time of publication. The application can cover an entire website, but only as it exists on the date it's registered. Any subsequently revised Web page requires a separate copyright application unless you can file a group registration for a database, serial or newsletter. The application should exclude any material previously registered by you or others, or material in the public domain.
- If your website includes a regularly updated database, you may be able to group the copyrighted material with a single application fee covering a three-month period. If your site includes a regular blog and other revisions, you can group-register your work as a serial covering three months, but the copyright office notes the copyright claim must be in the collective work, and not solely for "electronic journals" posted one blog at a time.
- Continually registering your copyright to cover a website's ongoing revisions can be an onerous and expensive effort, but most infringement cases can be resolved without filing suit. If you discover another site misappropriating your work, you can send a cease-and-desist letter to the offending website holder, file a takedown order with the Internet service provider to remove the infringing material under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act or demand payment of a licensing fee. Often a simple email to the offending website owner can be enough to replace using your copyrighted material with a link back to your own site.
- Using an excerpt from a copyrighted blog may not be a copyright infringement under the doctrine of "fair use." Use of a small portion of your work is allowed for editorial purposes, though even then you should request a link back to your site. It's only fair, which is what copyright is all about.
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