Factoring in Intellectual Property Considerations

Not everyone realizes that web sites are the intellectual property of their owners. Your web site content is your intellectual property, just as much as a book is the intellectual property of its author and publisher. And as intellectual property, your web site is governed by copyright laws that protect it, especially if you’ve obtained a federal copyright. (We talk about that process in the section “Filing for copyright,” later in this chapter.)

Nevertheless, web site content is often stolen and republished. If you’ve created lots of great content for your site, we almost guarantee that sometime, somewhere, you’ll see your content pop up on someone else’s site.

This book is not intended to replace legal advice. You should seek a copyright lawyer in order to get the full picture regarding your legal rights and options.