How do I protect my website?

Dana Robinson, Esq.

 

There are a lot of us out there in the small business world that have our own websites.  So, I get a lot of questions about how to protect a website.  Before I tell you how to protect your website, I have to ask a question that most people miss: CAN you copyright your website?  To answer this question, we have to look at how your website was created, and talk about the various aspects of your site. 

 

Most websites are made up of several distinct pieces that are merged by Internet protocols into what we see and experience in a website. These "pieces" are generally: 1.) text written uniquely for the site; 2.) graphics; 3.) photographs; 4.) code (HTML, Java, ASP, various scripting codes, etc.); and 5.) data and database functions.

 

The starting point for an inquiry about copyright law flows from the definition: "an original work of authorship" that is "fixed in tangible form."  To "own" the copyright, the claimant needs to be the creator (author/designer), or acquire right by contract in the form of "work for hire" or "assignment" of rights.  Let me use my own site for an example of the analysis:

 

My Text        

My text is an original work of authorship, fixed in tangible form (typed on my blog!).  I wrote my own text, I am the creator

 

My Graphics 

My graphics are original works of authorship, and as one can see my website, the graphics are fixed in tangible form      I did not design the graphics, but paid someone: did I get a "work for hire" [no]; did I get an assignment [no]

 

My Photos     

My photos are original works of authorship, fixed in tangible form          I took the only photos that are on my site (or my wife did and we own them jointly as part of owning our site)

 

My Code       

My code is an original work of authorship, fixed in tangible form: choose "view source" to see it in tangible form I did not write my code, it is a mix of WordPress code, and a template designed by a benevolent designer, both of whom granted me (an anyone) royalty free licenses to use the code

 

My Data        

My data is not an original work of authorship! Data is an assembly of non-original information and is not copyrightable; to the extent that the data uses a database application (programming code), it is copyrightable as an original work of authorship            

 

I can't copyright the data, but I might be able to protect it by not allowing users to get to it, and by having an agreement on my site that says that "users of this site may not download my data" [or something more lawyer-ish]; to the extent that there is database programming being utilized its not mine, but granted by license

 

The upshot is this: most of us own our content in terms of text, and not much else.  As such, the content can be copyrighted.  However, determining what to copyright and how to copyright it is the subject of my Post on copyrighting a blog: the approach to copyright filing depends on how dynamic your content is, how often you update it and how broad you want to protect it. 

 

If you did design your own photos or graphics, then you have two levels of copyright to consider:

 

1. copyrighting the whole site along the same lines as a children's book: text, graphics and photos; AND

2. copyrighting the individual images to the extent that each one might be a separate "original work of authorship" that is "fixed in tangible form" prior to and separate from your website. 

 

One might even copyright individual articles separately from a "whole site" copyright registration if the individual articles have a life independent of the blog or website.