Writing an article is painstaking work, which requires a lot of time and effort. Thus, it is understandable for a writer to be outraged to find contents of his work reproduced across the web without permission. If the writer is able to track down the person who distributed the work without permission, he or she may be able to sue for copyright violation.
Copyright in simple words, is the right of the owner to permit someone to reproduce his/her work elsewhere. The content would be considered to be stolen even if someone did so unintentionally. Even without clear statement of copyright protections, the works are almost always protected (unless they are public domain) and therefore would require either permission or cited use.
Even a sentence copied without permission can be termed as copyright violation. However, if the excerpt is very short with no commercial motives, the person can claim use under the "fair use" clause. Exception may be made for information used for educational purpose or discourse or commentary. The decision, however, is at the discretion of the judge.
How would the author know of the copyright violation? Writers usually read a lot and may stumble on a work of theirs on the net. Even if the author does not find out, there are programs that search for matching text and content. The spider will mark the site and notify for copyright violations. Many companies use these options to protect their content from theft.
From the author’s view point, there are some points to keep in mind with regard to copyright protection. The first among them is the difference between coding and text. Design and content of the text are two different things. The writer may own the text, but not the design (setup) of the website. The design belongs to the designer, who is also protected by copyright laws. The writer will have rights only to the content of the site unless the design rights have also been transferred under valid written agreements
In the United States, any article written by an author becomes their property and they own the full copyright upon finishing the creation of the article with their name attached to it (unless the author has an agreement to release the rights to another person or entity). However, in order to have full legal protection and backing, a record of this must be on file with the United States Copyright, Patent and Trademark Office. The sad part is that many times the costs of legal action far outweigh the result of it, and many freelance and independent writers cannot afford this risk.
Web site designers often create the content for the web sites they are designing. If not, the content is provided by the client, or outsourced to a writer. Web designers need to be aware of the issues around the copyright protection of the written content as much as their own design. At times, people may unintentionally copy the contents, due to improper referencing. Approach them in resolving the issue before taking legal action.
Some ways to protect the content of the web site are:
- Register the content of the web site for copyright protection before the publication of the work.
- Clearly display sentences like, "This article is protected under copyright laws." or, "Do not copy the contents as they are protected by copyright."
- Use programs with secure signatures which prevents "copy and paste" options.
- Have written agreement between the content provider and web designer (if the work is outsourced), and an agreement between the web designer and client the site is being built for that clearly states content ownership. Make sure the agreement is signed by all involved parties.