Starting an Online Business All-in-One For Dummies®, 3rd Edition

Protecting Your Investment with Copyrights

As with trademarks, you don't have to file for copyright protection to claim your written work as your own. Copyright protection is in place at the time you create your work. However, if you choose to file a lawsuit against someone for using your information, the U.S. Copyright Office advises that you need the formal certificate of registration as proof of ownership.

The good news is that copyrighting your information isn't expensive. Filing fees, at this time, are $45 per work if filed online and $65 per work if filed by other means; a group of material typically costs a minimum of $65.

If you choose to register, certain rules pertain specifically to Web sites and other material (such as documents you offer for download) distributed online. For instance, you can copyright any original information you include on your site.

Here are some other variables:

• You can protect computer programs you have written.
• You can protect entire databases.
• You cannot copyright your domain name for your site (such as www.mysiteisgreat.com).
• If you decide to send out an electronic newsletter to your customers each week, it's protected under copyright laws, as long as the information is original.

The rules become more complicated when you discuss the period over which a work is protected or the amount of work that can be copyrighted. For instance, the original words on your Web site pages are protected. However, if you make updates to any of your pages and ...