It Pays to Protect a Business Website from Copycats and Hackers
Feb 18, 2011
Los Angeles, CA (Law Firm Newswire) February 18, 2011 – Imagine a business owner doing a routine Google search of his business and name, only to find that a website thousands of miles away had copied the logo, design, text and even some photos. This is what happened to the law firm of Gordon & Doner out of Palm Beach, Fla. when they looked themselves up and found the British firm of Maslin & Associates with a copycat website.
A business should protect its website and all the content, design, and graphics by copyrighting it. This way, all the original works of authorship are protected, as well as the look and feel of the website. Be sure to request ownership of the copyright in a written agreement if an outside company creates the website. This could increase the fees from the graphic design company but then later on the business could have the authority to use the same graphics and content on promotional materials such as brochures and mailings.
Copyright protection starts when the work is fixed in a tangible medium. Use the copyright symbol to inform others that the business has control over the display of the website, its production and distribution. State in the fine print that the business has created the website and is copyrighted. By copyrighting a website, it will be easier to seek court enforcement of the copyright should a copycat come along.
“A business and its employees work hard to create and maintain an Internet presence that will generate revenues and continue the marketing efforts,” said Anthony Spotora, Los Angeles intellectual property lawyer. “A good lawyer will help their clients protect their Internet business assets through copyright protection services.”
Copyright infringement is a very serious matter and should a programmer even copy code from another website, a business could be on the wrong side of the law. Websites can be shut down without notice as a part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and “blacklisted” from Google. Google will remove sites that infringe on another’s intellectual property, program its spiders to avoid the site and ban it from its Adwords and Adsense programs.
It pays to hire a business and intellectual property attorney to assist with trademarks for domain names and unique business phrases, copyrights for the website, and contractual agreements for creative services done both for the website and with vendors used during daily business transactions.
Spotora & Associates has more than a decade of experience representing clients from start-ups to established national corporations with their website and intellectual property concerns. They are skilled in researching, registering, and protecting intellectual property rights throughout the United States and abroad.
To learn more, talk to a Los Angeles Business Lawyer or Los Angeles Copyright Attorney by visiting http://www.spotoralaw.com/.
Law Offices of Spotora & Associates, P.C.
1801 Century Park East, 24th Floor
Los Angeles, California 90067-2302
Call: (310) 556.9641
