Copyright the content..... how? whom?

[leusmith]

Hey guys

I am a nut on this copyright stuff.
I am developing a social networking site........ I want to copyright the logo and the design and the stuff like that(I dont want to copyright the user-generated content).

How should I copyright it? I am not in the US. I'm from India.
But would be ready to copyright in it in the US(safe and stiff laws as I heard)

How much will it cost?
anyone to do it for me?

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Waiting for your reply.......
Leusmith

 

[winterwisp]

Hi there,

I'm an illustrator and copyright my illustrations via www.copyright.gov
It provides you with copyrights in the US but when you sue it still depends on the state's laws. The site allows you to copyright a variety of things but I have only copyrighted illustrations and photos. It only costs $45 and is really easy to do, they have instructions on the site.

For images you basically just place the images you want copyrighted on a cd and send that off with the $45 and the VA form from the website. I think you can copyright your logo this way.

I'm not sure about websites but they do have a FAQ about websites:

Can I copyright my website?

The original authorship appearing on a website may be protected by copyright. This includes writings, artwork, photographs, and other forms of authorship protected by copyright. Procedures for registering the contents of a website may be found in Circular 66, Copyright Registration for Online Works.

So it seems like images and designs for a website would fall under the Visual Arts category while the content can be copyrighted under the Literary Works category.

Try to use expedited services to send off your stuff so that you can track the shipping. And also keep the receipt because once they receive it the work becomes copyrighted, but it takes a while for them to actually send you the certificate.

 

[kayley]

You can basically copywrite any original work. The issue is that you should weigh the cost and the hassel against the gains. It is very irritating and also could reduce your profits when people copy your work. It is the same when it comes to patented inventions. Pirate copies are all over the place, but usually it is a very costly affair to stop the copying. Unless you are a big firm with big bucks you can't usually stop the copying and theft of your original work. Concerntrate on copy writing only the most essential things if you absolutely must, and build a good website with good content. People will always come to places where there is good content, and usually the copycats can't keep up with producing good content for websites.

 

[IMguru]

It is a good to have a copyrighted material and reserve your graphics and logos. Majority of designers copy material and do some minor changes. In this way they publish your stuff with their own name and that would again copied by someone else.

 

[AdoptableDomains]

You don't have to file a registered copyright to have a copyright. However, doing so will shift the burden of proof on enforcing it from the copyright owner to the infringer, and allow more financial penalties to the owner. Either way, you still have to enforce it though. If in India, you would still have to file in US courts to enforce the US copyright. If the infringer were in say Russia, or Korea, you have additional issues with jurisdiction and enforcement. If neither you or the infringer is from the US, I don't think any US court would even take the case based on lack of nexus of both parties.

You should be able to file a copyright in your own country that is enforceable through treaty in other participating countries including the US. Not an expert, but you might search and read about the international TM laws.

 

[pepperstix]

Number of ways to protect your work

From the other replies you can see that there are a number of ways that original work can be protected through registration at a number of intellectual property organizations worldwide. Be aware, though, that there are a small number of countries, mostly middle-Eastern, that do not adhere to global IP agreements. However, the best possible way to protect your work is to always be able to prove origination, meaning that you always must date and store the original design. If the original is computer-assisted designed, simply save to whichever safe format so that the date of origination is saved. If hand-crafted, write the date of creation in your own handwriting and store the original in a safe place. There is no safer way - it even is used today to prove works of famous artist. Thus said, it won't stop thieves or wikipedians to duplicate your work. To track that sort of thing, use copyscape or suchlike.