(please note: this is a special contribution by my friend and associate Dr. Kevin Nunley. Thanks, Kevin!)
I get a lot of questions from people who want to know how they can protect their article, poem, photos, or web site content. I'm not a lawyer, but in general, here is how copyright law protects you.
While it is a good idea to put your name and "copyright 2004" next to your work, it is not mandatory. Your creations are automatically protected under copyright law the moment you make them.
The problem comes when you want to challenge someone who steals your work. You need ways to show the date you created the work which should be before the other person created it.
Web pages with a date stamp on them can work well to prove your work came first. Nothing like looking your work up on a search engine and finding the date fixed by an independent authority for all to see.
The official site of the US Copyright Office is: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/ Everything you need to know about copyright is discussed there.
You can stick your work in an envelope and mail it to the Copyright Office along with $30 to get an official copyright registration. It is hard for anyone to claim they own your work once you've done this.
... article by Scott T. Smith ...
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