web site

[teej]

Some great info. Thanks to all of you.

Stealing from others sites is a concern of mine. How can I protect my logo to protect against others from using it? Do I need to copy right it? Are there different types of copy rights? If I copy right at my state level, will that protect my logo from being used in other states or countries? Will this give me legal options if I find someone else using it?

Thank you, Teej

 

[Bob Hubbard]

In the US, copyright is at the federal level, and is reconized in most, but not all countries. Your logo by itself falls more into trademark law, which gets rather more complex and expensive. By default, you can use the (TM) designation, which indicates an unregistered trademark. (R) is used for a registered trademark, and requires a fee and a search. Couple thousand bucks for that.

100% protection is imposible.
- You can use code that disables the 'right click', and 'save' options.
--- Easily circumvented by using a browser that ignores that code. (Hey, IE1 is ugly, but great for such things)
--- File is also in your browser cache, a bit of hunting will turn it up.

- You can slice it up into little pieces so they have to reassemble it.
--- Or I can just do a screen capture and crop it down in my art program.

Some suggestions for images:
- Watermark it.
- register the site with a copyright
- consider registering the trademark.
- use a 60DPI version on your site to make it more challenging for folks who steal and resize. (72DPI is normal web, 300DPI print)

Now, if you do discover someone has used it without your permission, send them a politely worded 'cease and decist' notice. If it works, cool, if not, forward the complaint to their ISP/webhost/etc. Most hosts will work with you. Some won't. There may be the rare time you'll need legal backing. Also, some countries aren't part of the international agreements and will just ignore you. Unfortunately, there is little you can do unless you can get to those countries in person.