Copyrighting web content may seem complicated. You might be asking yourself, how can I copyright my site? Can I use the copyright symbol? What should my copyright notice look like? If this is you, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we will take a dive into the world of copyright and give you the needs to know for getting your copyright notice or also known as copyright text. Discover the proper way to copyright your website! Get started now and protect your valuable content.
Anything sufficiently original that you create, whether that be the next big blockbuster screenplay, best-selling novel, or a blog post, is automatically protected by copyright law. This law protects your work from being used without your authorization or plagiarised allowing you to enforce your rights and in turn maintaining the lawful ownership of your work.
Simple sentences are often not enough to protect your content and intellectual property. That’s why stating your Terms are important. Set things like licensing, Creative Commons, limitations of liability and more.
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That being said, copyright applies to creative works, such as – typically – literature, music, film etc., but websites and blogs as such are not always necessarily eligible for copyright protection – rather the single elements used on them such as text, images, sounds, graphic etc. The website/blog as a whole is only eligible for copyright if it itself is the original and creative content rather than just a combination of single copyrightable elements (text, images, sounds, graphic etc.).
Later in this article, we’ll delve into the four components of a copyright text, providing you with more information about each.
A copyright notice on your website, app, or blog informs users that your content is protected and copyrighted. While copyright notices are not required by law it is strongly recommended to have one in order to help protect your creative content.
A copyright notice on your website, app, or blog informs users that your content is protected and copyrighted. While copyright notices are not required by law it is strongly recommended to have one in order to help protect your creative content.
Sounds good right? But…
This article is a part of our series on compliance for bloggers and web publishers. Read also:
In the US, copyright notices, also known as copyright text, are usually as follows:
*All Rights Reserved. You keep all rights to your material.
No Rights Reserved. No personal copyright. You have ownership but it is not yours alone, meaning the rest of the world can have access. Please note that once you have published your work under a no-rights-reserved policy, there’s basically no way back.
For copyright in the EU:
💡 Want to know how a copyright disclaimer works and how to write one? 👉 Read our guide on what is a copyright disclaimer and how to write it.
As we have mentioned before, copyright notices can help protect the original, visual content of your website or blog. This is why most websites include a copyright notice or a line of copyright text in the footer and on each of their pages.
For this, it is crucial to know what to include in your copyright text to protect your creative work. As previously stated, copyright wording should include certain aspects that express your ownership and rights. This lets others know that you have exclusive control over how your work is used. By including these elements in your copyright text, you establish a clear record of your ownership and discourage unauthorized use or reproduction of your content.
Remember, having a copyright sample can be helpful for reference when creating your own copyright text. So let’s see some copyright samples:
In this copyright example, Universal Studio’s website footer includes a small ©, the date, and the Universal Studios name. In this case, while there is no statement of rights, it is sufficient to indicate that the company has protected the rights of the website.
Fox.com includes a copyright notice that it reserves all rights, and at the same time mentions that they have protected the Trademark in the same notice, at the bottom of the page of their website.
In most countries, you don’t need to register as copyright is present to the author of any eligible creative work without the need for registration. Keep in mind, that in many countries (e.g. in EU member states), it’s not even possible to register copyrights, however, in the US you can additionally register with the copyright office, which may allow for an easier or broader enforcement of your rights.
💡Remember: never assume that your rights are the same in one country as they are in another, since copyright is territorial. Therefore, you’ll enjoy US-copyright when your work is being used (or infringed upon) in the US, UK-copyright if it’s being used (or infringed upon) in the UK, French copryight in France, Italian copyright in Italy, etc. etc.
Terms and Conditions are a document that protects the owner (that’s you!) by informing users on how to legally interact with your product, service, or content.
Sounds familiar?
Terms and Conditions are especially important for bloggers and website owners. T&C’s paint a clear picture to users about how they can use your services and content. As this is a legally binding declaration it is protecting your content from a copyright perspective as well as protecting you from potential liabilities.
If you:
You need to set Terms & Conditions.
Have no fear, here at iubenda we can help you easily generate and manage your T&Cs with our Terms and Conditions Generator:
The solution works for blogs, eCommerce, and even complex scenarios like marketplace and affiliate scenarios.
