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How Can You Protect Your Investment 1. Question: True or False? My material is not technically copywritten until I file a copyright notice/application with the Library of Congress. Answer: False. A copyright is an originally authored work. Thus, as soon as you put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and type just a few words of your original idea, your content is protectable. However, you will not be able to sue someone else under federal law for copyright infringement until you file with the Library of Congress/Copyright office. A copyright notice should be written on the bottom of each index page that reads "Copyright" or ©, followed by the year and your name. Copyrights are not perpetual, generally they run for the life of the creator, plus 70 years.
2. Question: True or False? I could copy the entirety of the local white pages for my area and post it on my Web site and not be in violation of copyright laws. Answer: True. Though, I wouldn’t recommend it because you are assured that someone will bring you into court over it. Notwithstanding the potential for a lawsuit, copyright law has consistently held that a telephone book is simply a compilation of facts without any creative ordering and thus is not a protectable expression.
3. Question: True or False? If I register the domain name first, it’s mine...all mine, right? Answer: False. The domain name registrars have give a preference to federal and foreign registered trademark holders, especially when in competing markets. Thus, if you register Ford.com before Ford Motor Company does, you’ll just end up having to give up your rights to the name. The better course of action is to register a domain name that isn’t a trademark and then register for a trademark application on the domain name (generally, but not always, without the .com extension).
4. Question: True or False? Once I have registered my domain name, I own it forever. Answer: False. Current domain name registrars charge $70 to maintain your domain name registration for the first two (2) years and $35 per year thereafter. If you fail to renew with the domain name registrar, then you can lose it or if someone exerts a superior legal right to the name, you may lose it that way as well. Recently, additional domain name registrars have been accredited and additional sub-level domains are being created offshore. These fees and terms may change radically as competition enters the domain name registration field.
5. Question: True or False? Someone can link to my Web site, even if they don’t ask? Answer: True. Unless you have expressly indicated on your site that linking is prohibited. Even with that prohibition, you won’t have extensive legal remedies available to you except that you may be able to require them to cease and desist, but that’s more a measure of Netiquet than legal recourse.
6. Related Question True or False: I can "borrow" a cool picture of a dog from a Web site I saw. Answer: False. That picture is copywritten and if you put it up on your Web site, then you are infringing on their copyright. However, if it’s your picture that you took with your camera, that’s fine – post away.
7. Question: True or False? Since no-one can see them anyway, I can "meta-tag" my Web site with my competitors’ trade names. Answer: False. Meta Tags are HTML (hyper-text markup language) coded keywords that search engines and other spiders/robots use to select and index sites to be retrieved in response to a search request. Even though such meta-tags do not appear visible on one’s Web site, they are prohibited as impermissible infringement under existing trademark and copyright law. (But see recent Playboy case where judge permitted use of the word Playmate on former Playmate's Web site under "Fair Use" doctrine -- Stay tuned) Other tactics such as embedding competitors’ trademarks on a Web site using the same color as the background colors (thus, making such trademark invisible to the naked eye) are similarly prohibited. That is not to say that meta-tagging or embedding legitimate keywords, descriptive of your site, are prohibitive, quite the contrary, they are highly useful and can prove very efficient in gaining a search engine advantage over your competition.
8. Question: True or False? Publishing something on a Web site to the entire computing world is the equivalent of placing it in the public domain. Answer: False. Just the same way when an author writes a book and places it in a library he is not intending to authorize the world at large to copy the book, a Web site content creator/provider isn’t either. The content may be protectable expression and as such, it cannot be copied.
9. Question: True or False? If you have one of your employees write content for one of your webpages and then that employee decides to go to work for someone else, she can take the work product that she created with her. Answer: False. It’s yours. As an employee performing work that is within the scope of the employment, the rights in the work automatically transfer to you as a "work made for hire under existing copyright law."
10. Question: True or False? If that same worker is an independent contractor, they can reuse the material for another purpose. Answer: True. Unless your written, signed Work for Hire Agreement with them specifically provides otherwise, they are the owners of that intellectual property.
How did you do????
Harvey S. Jacobs, Esq., managing director of Jacobs & Associates, Attorneys At Law, is a specialist in Internet Law, trademarks, copyrights, business formation, contracts, and mergers and acquisitions for the technology industry. He designed and implemented the award-winning real estate Web site www.realestatesettlements.com, the venture capital site www.venture-capitalist.com and is continually constructing his firm’s Web site www.internet-law-firm.com. He can be reached at (202) 457-0100 or via e-mail at jacobs@internet-law-firm.com. Mr. Jacobs wishes to acknowledge the contributions of Michael S. Gottlieb, a former associate in the Internet practice group of Jacobs & Associates for his contributions to this quiz. |
