Protecting Your Business Information from Web Theft and Copyright Violation
by Dr. Ralph F. WilsonYou have a great idea to market your product or service. It works well, and soon you've developed a growing business from the Web. Then you get an e-mail message from a friend that www.copytheft.com looks a great deal like your Web site. Sure enough, there are your graphics, and whole swatches of your carefully written text. How do you protect your copyrights on the Web when theft is so easy?
Everything on your Web pages -- text, graphics, and HTML code -- is protected by US and international copyright law, whether or not you have gone to the trouble of formally applying for a copyright with the Library of Congress (though registering makes it easier to prove your ownership in court, should that become necessary). Knowing this, be very careful not to use someone else's materials, photos, or graphics on your Web site. Always ask for permission and be ready to pay for using someone else's hard work to enhance your business Web presence. You would be wise to include a statement at the bottom of each Web page saying something like "Copyright © 1996, Ralph F. Wilson, all rights reserved," and then perhaps link the word "copyright" to a Web page which spells out your ownership of the materials to put potential plagiarists on notice.
It may be easy to steal copy, but you as a business owner have two important allies. The first is a powerful Web search engine, such as AltaVista or HotBot. I might take the phrase "put potential plagiarists" (I must like alliteration) from the previous paragraph, type it between quotation marks on AltaVista, and press "Submit". In a few seconds, AltaVista will search its index of 30+ million Web pages for the words in that phrase. Do you know how many times the phrase "put potential plagiarists" is used on the Web? Not once, at least not until this article is published on my Web site. If your search reveals violations, decide what your objective is. Do you seek damages or merely removal of the page? Usually, a polite but firm e-mail message to remove the offending Web pages by a certain date is all that is necessary to accomplish the latter.
But if not, you may discover a second ally in the violator's Internet Service Provider. A decision in Church of Scientology vs. Netcom (Civil Action No. C-95-20091, slip op. (N.D. Cal. Sept. 22, 1995)) indicated that ISPs may be liable for contributory infringement after being put on reasonable notice of an infringing file, if the ISP fails to take reasonable action. (You can see a discussion of this issue by Anthony V. Lupo of Arent Fox in "Current Development in Copyright Law", March 1996. Such a ruling makes prudent ISPs willing to listen carefully to complaints of copyright violation.
If you don't act to protect your business materials on the Internet, your business may lose its uniqueness, some of your potential customers, and ultimately, even your claims to the copyright itself. Make up your mind to pursue this vigorously and relentlessly. A periodic search might just help protect your business; I've found it necessary to protect mine.
Further information is available at http://www.wilsonweb.com/copyright/
