Re: Copyright notice

> >Copyright in the United States is conferred upon publication.
Ivan wrote;

> Not even remotely true.  Copyright exists, if at all, upon creation and
> fixation in a tangible medium of expression.  You can register a copyright
> for unpublished work.

...sigh....

>From the horses Mouth;
[snip]
"Copyright protection subsists from the time the work is created in fixed
form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately becomes the
property of the author who created the work. Only the author or those
deriving their rights through the author can rightfully claim copyright."
[/snip]
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/circs/circ1.html#wci
U.S. Copyright Basics

The website as a "fixed form" or  "tangible medium of expression"

Every website is on a computer somewhere as zeros and ones. It is
addressable by an internet protocol address,(24.255.216.201) or by Domain
Name Resolution(www.lemurzone.com), which translates to an I.P number,
allowing you to arrive at this destination and see something.

Physically speaking, most websites will fit on a floppy disk.
This is tangible property.  The files you upload, the images you spend hours
getting just right, the text you display is a tangible medium of expression.

It can be viewed, printed, and copied.

The ability to find and see a website confirms the concept that a website is
a "tangible medium of expression".

Recent Internet Copyright  and Trademark infringement lawsuits also support
the
concept of a website and images as tangible mediums of expression.

Just about every major search engine will return pages of past, present and
ongoing litigation to re-enforce this point.

A website is not a book, song , record or movie. It can have elements of all
of them.
The majority of websites are non-commercial.
Of those that are commercial, the majority belong to small businesses doing
less than 10 million dollars in GROSS Sales.
The majority of these have less than 1 million dollars a year in Gross
Sales.


hi let me build you a web site.
It  will cost you 400% my base rate, as my lawyer bills at 300% of my normal
rate.
I will need to hire a couple of techs to surf the web looking for  text and
images
I will need a lawyer on retainer to sue these malefactors and free style
socialists
You will need a lawyer to sue them also
i will need a seat on your board to be sure we get all this suing up to
speed
i will need a bookeeper on your staff to make sure i am getting every red
cent.
an independent audit which you can pay for.
oh yeah if you want to use these images in other formats we will need
another agreement complete with a royalty schedule, progress payments, etc.

life is a little short for that...

the work for hire arrangement has simplicity and common sense on it's side.

Work for Hire
Most  independant website designers build sites as Works for Hire
Simply put, in a Work For Hire, Copyright belongs to the folks that wrote
the check.

I build sites this way as I like building sites, not spending my time
tracking down logos and images just to go to court.

In the case of works made for hire, the employer and not the employee is
considered to be the author.

Again, from the horses Mouth;
Section 101 of the U.S. copyright law defines a "work made for hire" as;


(1) a work prepared by an employee within the scope of his or her
employment; or

(2) a work specially ordered or commissioned for use as a contribution to a
collective work, as a part of a motion picture or other audiovisual work, as
a translation, as a supplementary work, as a compilation, as an
instructional text, as a test, as answer material for a test, or as an
atlas, if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them
that the work shall be considered a work made for hire....

The language above is pretty clear on the distinction. The last point is
important as the agreement is in a  written instrument.

This would a contract outlining the terms and conditions that you will be
swapping money for pixels.
A plain language discussion on work for hire;
http://www.gigalaw.com/articles/loc-2000-02-p3.html

I am certainly not for giving away the farm, but let's get real.

Work for hire arrangements cut out lawyers .

I build websites for a living.
I do it full time and professionally.

My choice is to build websites, help my clients build their business, which
give me more business, not feed lawyers.

alan herrell - the head lemur
Help a Site http://www.evolt.org
Keep a Site http://domain-issues.org
Standards for Sites http://www.webstandards.org
Buy a Site http://www.lemurzone.com

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