Online publishing and copyright

[krainert]

Hey all,

Just out of curiosity: When you publish something online, is it copyrighted to you by default - meaning, does your material become your legal intellectual property once you make it available to the public? I'm pretty sure I remember hearing that somewhere (and in today's turbulent world it makes good sense), but I'd like to get it confirmed.
Thanks.

[Major Banter]

Assuming you put:

Copyright -your name here- © 2009

And you have the original content; it's all yours. Theoretically.

Technically you need to register the copyright, but most people use Creative Commons or simply dump up that copyright thing. 99% of the time most people won't bother to nick it if it's got something as simple as a watermark. However, if you end up in a court battle, without the register nobody can lay claim to the content without extensive proof.

Really, it depends on what you're copyrighting.

[Terr]

Until 1989, a published work had to contain a valid copyright notice to receive protection under the copyright laws. But this requirement is no longer in force -- works first published after March 1, 1989 need not include a copyright notice to gain protection under the law.

But even though a copyright notice is not required, it's still important to include one. When a work contains a valid notice, an infringer cannot claim in court that he or she didn't know it was copyrighted. This makes it much easier to win a copyright infringement case and perhaps collect enough damages to make the cost of the case worthwhile. And the very existence of a notice might discourage infringement.

Finally, including a copyright notice may make it easier for a potential infringer to track down a copyright owner and legitimately obtain permission to use the work.

Source

[krainert]

Grand, thanks.