Website & Online Works

DOES YOUR WEBSITE REALLY BELONG TO YOU?!

Fact: If you hired a web designer to create your website and write the content, the copyright of your website may not belong to you!
If the web designer or developer is a free lancer or independent contractor who created the content on your website, the copyright does not belong to you UNLESS it is a "work made for hire".  A "work made for hire" is a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her employment.  The owner of copyright belongs to the employer only if a written agreement was signed by BOTH parties stating that the website was a "work made for hire".  Corporations who hire employees and pay them salaries are a "work made for hire" and an additional written agreement is not necessary; however independent contractors or freelancers who create your website and content should sign a "Work Made For Hire Agreement"  You can find an example of a "Work Made For Hire Agreement" here.  In addition to this, you should protect your website by registering your copyright.

(From U.S. Copyright Office Circular 61, "Computer Programs", Circular 65, "Automated Databases, Circular 66, "Online Works.") 
 
Copyright Registration is available for Online Works "made available over a communications network such as the Internet." This information applies also to works accessed via network (World Wide Web sites and Homepages, FTP sites, Gopher sites) and files and documents transmitted and/or downloaded via network.  
 
Copyright protects original authorship fixed in tangible form. For works transmitted online, the copyrightable authorship may consist of text, artwork, music, audiovisual material (including any sounds), sound recordings, etc. Copyright does not protect ideas, procedures, systems, or methods of operation.  
 
 
 
The Registration of an online work protects the following:  
 
All websites with original content, as well as all online works other than computer programs and databases, the registration will extend to the copyrightable content of the work as received in the Copyright Office and identified as the subject of the claim.  Any material that has been published or registered before should be excluded. 

Note: For online computer programs and databases, the registration will extend to the entire copyrightable content of the work owned by the claimant, even though the entire content is not required in the identifying material deposited (with the Copyright Office).  
 
Revisions and updates Many works transmitted online are revised or updated frequently. For individual works, however, there is no blanket registration available to cover revisions published on multiple dates. Separate registration is required to reflect the new updates or revisions.  
 
 
Basis of Claim  
 
Where all of the material in a database has been previously published, previously registered, or is in the public domain, the claim must be limited to "compilation" assuming the requisites of original selection, coordination, or arrangement is present. Where all, or a substantial portion, of the material in the database represents copyrightable expression and it is being published or registered for the first time, the claim could also extend to "text", "revised text", "additional text", or the like.  
 
In the "Nature of Authorship" space, identify the copyrightable authorship in the database for which registration is sought, for example "compilation" or "compilation and text." (Do not include any reference to design, physical form, features, hardware, or other uncopyrightable elements.) 
 

The Extent of Copyright Protection  
 
Copyright protection also extends to the compilation of facts only if the facts represent original authorship. The contents of a database, may also be copyrightable, as in the case of a full-text bibliographic database.  
 
Copyright protection is not available for the selection and ordering of data in a database where the collection and arrangement of the material is a mechanical task only and represents no original authorship; e.g., merely transferring data from hard copy to computer storage.    
 

Automated Databases  
 
An automated database is a body of facts, data, or other information assembled into an organized format suitable for use in a computer and comprising one or more files. The copyright law does not specifically enumerate databases as copyrightable subject matter, but the legislative history indicates that Congress considered computer databases and compilations of data as "literary works" subject to copyright protection.  
 
Databases may be considered copyrightable as a form of compilation, which is defined in the law as a work "formed by the collection and assembling of preexisting materials or of data that are selected, coordinated, or arranged in such a way that the resulting work as a whole constitutes an original work of authorship."  
 
 
Computer Programs  
 
A "computer program" is a set of statements or instructions to be used directly or indirectly in a computer in order to bring about a certain result.  
 
Copyright protection extends to all of the copyrightable expression embodied in the computer program. Copyright protection is not available for ideas, program logic, algorithms, systems, methods, concepts, or layouts, even if they are original works. 
 
 
 
Screen Displays  
 
Copyright protection for computer screen displays has been an issue in the courts for some time and judgments have not been consistent. Courts have differed in their opinions regarding whether screen displays may be registered separately. The Copyright Office has consistently believed that a single registration is sufficient to protect the copyright in a computer program and related screen displays, including videogames, without a separate registration for the screen displays or a specific reference to them on the application for the computer program.  
 
An application may give a general description in the "Nature of Authorship" space, such as "entire work" or "computer program." This description will cover any copyrightable authorship contained in the computer program and screen displays, regardless of whether identifying material for the screen is deposited. A specific claim in the screen displays may be asserted on the application. In such a case, identifying materials for the screens must be deposited.