Legal Question in Intellectual Property in California

Hi,

I have a completed (although it will be revised constantly) website that will provide free service to the public in an innovative manner I don't believe has ever been done before. While right now it is free and unknown, I suspect that this will eventually become a potentially very valuable idea/website, and in the feature I would like to turn it into an app as well, but currently do not have the knowledge.

I will soon be advertising this website heavily, and I would like to know how I can go about protecting it (the idea and site) from being stolen/blatantly copied and possibly sold to a company without any share of the profit, or my consent.

I should also mention that I am young (not a minor), on a budget....don't have hundreds - thousands for an expensive legal document that might not even work.

Also, is it illegal to claim something is copywritten (just writing Copyright or patent registered on the bottom of the site) when it's not? Just to deter thieves?

I have taken screenshots of the pages on the site, along with the code, and emailed them to myself to prove they existed on that day. Is this effective at all?

Thank you


Asked on 1/28/12, 9:31 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

Rather than making a false claim of copyright (by the way, it's copyRIGHT, not copywrite, so the past tense is copyrighted, not copywritten), and spending $$$ (?) on advertising, why not consider getting a genuine copyright? A young person who is smart enough to write and market software or create Web sites can probably figure out how to file for copyright protection himself or herself with the assistance of one or two (OK, maybe three) of those self-help law books dealing with "How to Copyright Your Own (Book, Software, or whatever)." Check the Amazon and Barnes & Noble sites for do-iy-yourself copyright books. Then, when you've made your first $500K or so, hire a first-rate IP lawyer to review what you've done yourself.

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Answered on 1/30/12, 8:15 pm


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