Legal Aspects

There are several legal issues that must be considered when assembling content for a web site. Legal issues, such as "domain name grabbing" and unauthorized use of images, are becoming increasingly important.

Copyright

One of the most visible rights that the author of a work has, is the copyright over his work. Almost everything that is published on the World-Wide Web is copyrighted. In general, a work is copyrighted when it is created, and it is not necessary to apply for copyright. Some countries may, however, give extra protection to works that are registered. In any case, when a work is copyrighted, others may not use or redistribute the work without the permission of the author. This permission is typically called a "license" for the work.

It is important to know under what circumstances someone else's work may be used in their own work. For example, images in public archives are often copyrighted, so it is necessary to find out about the licensing conditions first. This type of use is very straight-forward and does not differ much from the situation in the real world: when you write a book, a newspaper or a Website, you always need permission to use someone else's work in yours.

Most countries in the world have copyright laws which are based on the international Berne convention. This treaty states that any work is copyrighted at the moment of creation. A work has to be original and needs some form of artistic expression, but these requirements are easy to fulfill. Unless a work is really short (such as a single sentence), or is purely mechanical (such as a list of names), it is copyrighted. In the USA, before adopting the Berne Convention, authors had to register their work with the Copyright Office before they could get copyright protection for their work. This is now no longer true, but it may still be beneficial for US authors, as registering allows them to sue for punitive damages, instead of only for actual damages.

The copyright on a work is valid until a certain period after the author's death. The exact length of this period depends on the country, but can be up to seventy-five years. When the author is unknown, this period starts when the work is first published. The length of this period has changed several times in history, and this has affected the status of many old works. So, when using an old work on your site, don't just follow the current rule, also check what was the law at the time the work was created. And note that if you use a photo of a really old work, this photo is copyrighted independently of the work on the photo.

It is not required to add the famous "©" symbol or a text such as "Copyright by " to copyright the work. These serve only as indicators to others that the work is indeed copyrighted, so that no one can later claim he could not have known this. An appropriate notice on a Webpage would be something like:

Copyright © year by author. All rights reserved.

The year should be the year of creation, possibly with the addition of the year it was last modified. The author can be either the maker of the work, or the company or institution who owns the rights. In many plain-text documents, the © symbol cannot be shown, and the string "(c)" is used instead. This string is not an officially-recognized indicator, although it is by now so common that it probably would be accepted as such if there would ever be a dispute about a work's copyright status. To be on the safe side, you could add the full word "Copyright" to the "(c)" string.

Trademarks

A popular topic is the use of trademarks, in particular with respect to domain names. However, it is important for every Website owner to realize what a trademark is and when it may be used by other people.

A trademark is, broadly speaking, any mark that is used for indicating goods or services in commerce. Usually, it is necessary to register the mark with a local trademark office before it gains protection under trademark law. The exact rules differ from country to country, and sometimes you also have some kind of protection without registering the mark first.

A trademark can be one or more words or an image (a logo). Sounds and colors can sometimes also be used, but this is more difficult and may not be permitted in all countries.

To indicate that a word, phrase or image is a trademark, the suffix TM can be used. Note that this indicator has no legal status in countries where only registered trademarks are protected against use by others. A registered trademark is indicated with the ® symbol.

As a trademark is intended for use in commerce, trademark infringement can typically only occur in commerce-related activities. The mere mention of a product on a website (such as "John drank a bottle of Coca-Cola") is not trademark infringement. However, such use can be seen as weakening the mark, because the mark is then often used as a label for a generic product, and not that specific brand. Thus, people who use "xeroxing" for photocopying or "Hand me a kleenex, I've spilled my coffee" may still get angry letters from Xerox or Kleenex, demanding that they stop using their name. So be careful when you use someone else's trademark when you don't have to. People who review products or services do need to mention the name of that product, and this name is often trademarked. It is common practice to write the name followed by TM or ® to indicate this, but don't do this every time you use the name, as this makes the text very tiresome to read. Alternatively, you could end the review with a generic text like "A, B and C are registered trademarks of company X".

The same rules apply for using the logo of a product, which is often also a trademark for that product. However, in addition to trademark protection, this logo also has copyright protection when it is more than just a name in fancy letters. Using the logo may then be seen as a copyright violation.

Patents

Until recently, patents have not gotten much attention on the Internet. However, now that more and more people realize the importance and the power of patents, this situation is changing tremendously. As infringing on someone's patent can be very costly, it is important to be careful.

A patent is the exclusive right to make, use or sell an invention in a country. This invention can be a product or a method of making a product, although since recently also methods of doing business and computer programs can be patentend. In order to get this right, the inventor must apply for a patent at his patent office. He must fully disclose how the invention works and how it can be constructed and applied. This allows (at least in theory) others to make use of the invention. In return for his disclosure, the inventor gets the exclusive rights for a limited time (typically 20 years after applying for the patent).