How to Copyright Your Web Site

Copyright Resources

Here are some online resources related to copyright that you may want to check out.

Copyright Office

All the resources, circulars, forms, and explanations for the process of copyrighting anything are to be found at the U.S. Copyright Office web site at

http://www.copyright.gov

On the home page, on the left-hand side, you'll see "Copyright Basics" and "Frequently Asked Questions" links. The 19-page "Copyright Basics" page contains the whole story, and is the place to start reading if you need more information about copyright in general. (This is Circular 1: see below.) Read the "Frequently Asked Questions" page if you have any questions about your particular copyright registration. Click on it, then select "Copyright in general" for a reasonable overview of concepts which will be helpful as you go through the process. On the right-hand-side, under "How to register a work" click on "Literary works" (as that's what a web-site is considered to be) this one-page write-up has links to slightly more detailed information. Also, click on "An important message about mail delivery" (1 page) as it has some precautions on how you should submit your material.

The details of the copyright process are covered in detail by the "circulars and factsheets" at http://www.copyright.gov/circs/. Notice that you can select the PDF (Adobe Acrobat) version for all the forms or the text version for most.

You'll find the registration forms at http://www.copyright.gov/forms/ — you'll need the "Form TX w/instructions" or the "Short Form TX". Download them and save them as you have to submit printed versions.

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