I want to copyright my website, anyone has a best way to do it which will involve less money to spend since i am working on tight budget.
Appreciate all your replies.

ebeadstore,

This is the best site I could find about what you want to do. It sounds like the whole package.

Check it out...

http://www.swepa.com/public/433.cfm


Good Luck!

Thankyou CBHALE. I also found one copyrightmywork.com what do you think about it.

That one looks good as well not too mention looks like that offer a slightly differrnt approach as to more than one item you can submit.

I would check both of the companies out through the BBB and make sure they are not trying to scam you out of a $100.00.

I think more people should do this, if they are serious about staying on the Internet.

Check this one out: Go Daddys Copyright

You don't need to register your site for it to be copyrighted. The second you create something it is automatically copyrighted by law until someone challenges it for copyright infringment. The only reason their is a copyright office is so they can verify dates and so you have proof. You NEED proof! How do you get it? You can skip the costly process by obtaining full ftp access and putting every single file on cdrom. Seal the cdrom into a cardboard sleeve and mail it to yourself. The postmark that the postoffice puts on the sealed package will be proof(from the government) that it your site/images/text where already created at that given time. Just never open the sleeve unless its in front of a judge. If you want to go even one step further, instead of mailing it to yourself. Mail it to your lawyer and have him keep it in his records. Tell him not to open it.

Thanks for all your response. This forum is greate source of information...

To elaborate on ewestforths comments... thats the same thing I've heard... except to make sure it's sent registered mail so the envelope seal is covered by an official USPS form. This ensures that you didn't mail yourself a empty, unsealed envelope and put the CD or other materials in it at a later date.

i dispise these people who steal designs without permission. i have run into this many a times and it really gets to me. i spend alot of time on my site and design and for someone just to come by and take it and use it for them selves without asking is uncalled for. i found another mc store that just stole my whole design and layout. i attempted to contact the webmaster of the site many times and with no response. the thing is they are stupid enough to still have my website name in the text. what can i do about this or can the captain do anything about this?

http://shop.queerasfolk.com/page.asp?id=1

is http://shop.queerasfolk.com/page.asp?id=1 the domain that used components of your design? What part are you talking about? Let me know.

The queerfolks and the hobbyscene website are very similar, I think he is refering to one of these sites.


*****Nevermind he is hobbyscene***************

That sucks, I am sure will work something out.

Captain... on that site http://shop.queerasfolk.com/page.asp?id=1 you'll see

I see... the left hand navigation is the component used. It is up to you in these cases. I am totally against copying designs of other sites, however, I think it is ok to get ideas, concepts and components of other sites.

I may be missing something... is the left had navigation the only part that was used in the design? If this is the case, and it was my site, I would not worry to much about it... I would take it as a compliment. I would be upset however if someone copied major components and was in the same industry as me.

We have an issue with someone that has duplicated our sites identically, changed the logos and some text and has posted the domains to the web.

I don't worry to much about it from a branding stand point because sites and people like that never succeed... If you are to lazy to write and create your own content you are too lazy to succeed on the Internet.

I was just worried that Google would punish us for duplicate content.

After multiple request to have it removed, the content was not removed. So, I called my contact at Google and told them about it and they said not to worry. They would take care of it.

I recommend if something bothers you from a copyright standpoint, to contact the webmaster and request that it be changed. In this case, the component used is pretty subtle. It is not duplicate content so it won't hurt you will Google. I would be flattered!

sounds good to me.

Captain,
If you review our last post you'll see part of what hobbyscene (liltricky) was refering to. It is actual text copied from Hobbyscene to Queerasfolk. The text still says

Thats bad. Have you emailed the webmaster?

Liltricky's post above states:

ouch

"Once your order is shipped you will be issued a tracking number. This tracking number can be accessed through your personal Order Tracking page. You can then enter your tracking numbers for UPS Tracking or FedEx Tracking. If you have any questions regarding order tracking please feel free to contact us at Hobbyscene.com."

word for word ... I agree with Captain. People whom cant create their own text design let alone wording! Normally never succeed on the internet.

If your content is purely yours you are protected under the DMCA in many ways. DMCA, that good thing Bill Clinton did


Theft is Theft plain and simple.

Just wanted to throw in one very simple thought.

Copyright law is a very sticky area and best left to lawyers.

As for MonsterCommerce, should someone bring a civil suit against one of our customers, then we would probably take some sort of action, but prior to this it is probably best to not interfere with our customers content or related issues until we are directly requested by some form of legal action or related item....lest we ourselves get dragged into the matter as a company.

I am sure Captain and the powers that be will consult their legal agent(s) and come up with a response....past that I do not see what if any good further discussion on this thread would accomplish.

Also, Bittersweet....the DMCA loving comments crack me up...I know you....what is that saying "Don't throw stones at glass houses"?

thanks guys for the feedback and i apologize for not responding sooner. i thought i was tracking this post but apparently i didnt track it right. i attempted many times to contact the webmaster via emails and also attempted to call the at the phone number provided on their contact page but the number is out of service. this is the reason i made this post initially. i'm sure what else i can do at this point.

thanks again to everyone

oh yeah one more thing - im always flattered that someone likes my design and uses it for their own but come on lets not make it so obvious that you completely stole the design. at least remove my website name off of there. okay i feel better now.

thanks again for listening.

* 1 * Though I can't really say for sure where I'd learned this, I'd heard the "mail it to yourself" method is - at best - questionable for proving anything.

First off, just paste something on the bottom of your web pages that says,

Copyright © 2003, Whomever You Are. All Rights Reserved.

Boom. You're copyrighted. (It's like magic.) OK, it's not magic. It's that you've produced something "fixed in a tangible form." Hence, copyright exists.

* 2 * You can make the proper copyright symbol with the HTML © code. (Though it really doesn't matter for legal purposes.) To put on every page, you can just slap it in the bottom of the MonsterCommerce bottom template. (Or you can use templates with a JavaScript file or a server side include. If you don't work with JavaScript or SSIs... don't worry about it. Just use the included bottom with some HTML in there. That'll work fine.)

* 3 * If you really want to make it official, go ahead and use the other posters idea of burning a CD rom. You can take screen shots or use a web capture program or whatever. Then submit to copyright office. You'll need Form TX...

http://www.copyright.gov/forms/formtxi.pdf

and $30 registration fee. You don't have to mail this to yourself and send it to them with any kind of date proof. It's registered the date you send the forms. You can say you made it any date. Probably the best way to PROVE you did something on a particular date is to screen print and get a deck of prints notarized.

* 4 * After doing all this, it will mean little. Unless you have a book or music, (and even then), you're still screwed. Assuming you can find infringers at all, you're going to have to pay for lawyers to talk to them. (Assuming they're even gettable in realms within U.S. law.) And unless you can show damages, you're not going to recover any $$$.

But, doesn't hurt to fill out paperwork and try to do the 'right' thing in any case.

Scott