Copyrights and patents...

[SagaLore]

How do I go about copyrighting an online tool? Or would I have to patent it as a program?

 

[hoihtah]

technically, if you wrote it...
then it's copywritten.

it's all about protecting that.... where people are interested.

meaning...
if you write some html and at the end of that page write (c)2002...
it's valid. but you're not doing everything you can to protect that.

in order to further prevent...
you'll have to go through http://www.loc.gov/copyright/

 

[BigJohnKC]

Actually I don't believe it's copywritten if you just say it is.....

Either go through the government to make it official, or just FedEx it to yourself for proof of time created (poor man's copyright)

 

[hoihtah]

yes it is.

if you write something that's yours...
then automatically it is copy written.

however if someone else claims that to be yours...
you are opening more doors for them to take it away from you.

and hence the process.

but it is again technically copyrighted just by you writing so.

 

[gopunk]

hoitah is right, intellectual property is inherently copyrighted. you don't even have to put a notice of copyright.

 

[DaveSimmons]

yes, it's copyrighted by someone as soon as it's created -- displaying a notice and registering just make it easier to collect damages, especially punitive. Note that if someone is paying you to create a website for them, you really should have a signed agreement that the script code itself is not a work "for hire," and that they get only a non-exclusive right to the code, otherwise the copyright could belong to them not you.

 

[yakko]

All your online tools are belong to me.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

<< or just FedEx it to yourself for proof of time created (poor man's copyright) >>



This will hold up in court, but I've always heard you have to use USPS registered mail. AND DON"T OPEN IT when it comes back to you.

 

[xchangx]

<< or just FedEx it to yourself for proof of time created (poor man's copyright) >>

Lawyers I've talked to said that wouldn't hold up in court.