The Copyright Act of 1976 is the legal basis and definition for anything and everything to do with copyrights.
Before we get to the "how" of copyrights and registering them, I want to take a few minutes to make a solid case for actually doing it, to clear up a couple of misconceptions, and to establish the basic concepts and vocabulary. As part of this, I'll explain what you can and can't copyright, what's involved in using copyrighted material belonging to others on your site, and several other topics.
First: just what is a copyright? Briefly, it means the right to control the copying of something that you've created. Among those rights are: permitting others to copy or reproduce it, permitting others to make works derived from yours; allowing others to perform or display or play the work publicly; and specifying a charge or fee for the permission. Pretty well any use of your work is included in the copyright, although there are well-defined exceptions, such as that of "fair use" which I'll discuss shortly. Copyright is an important thing and one which puts you in the driver's seat with regard to what you've created.
Be aware, though, that because you've created something, it doesn't automatically mean that you own the copyright. If you were commissioned to create the work, copyright belongs to the person who commissioned it. If you create something as a normal part of your employment, copyright goes to your employer. If you have co-authors you all equally own the copyright. If you write something that is accepted for publication in a magazine, you initially own the copyright, but the publishing agreement may change that.
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