Legal Question in Intellectual Property in Illinois

Re: Copyright law

You don't need an attorney. Go to www.copyright.gov. It's the site for the U.S. Copyright Office. Go to "Forms" and download Form TX (published literary works). That should cover it.

One other note, just to be safe, place a copyright notice on each page: (c)2004. All rights reserved. It's not a requirement, but leaves no doubt as to your claim of right to the material contained on that page...

Please visit my website at: www.entertainmentlawchicago.com for information on the services I provide.

Thanks and good luck.

Don Simon

Re: Copyright law

copyright protection automatically exists upon creation of the website (or literary work, art work, design, etc...). No documents need to be filed. There are different reasons for filing for copyright registration with the US Copyright Office including: 1) you MUST file for copyright registration in order to bring an infringement action in a federal court (but you may file for protection well after creation of the work and after infringement...it just needs to be on file for the law suit); 2) having a registered copyright acts as presumptive evidence that you are the original author of the work and provides you with a "pubication" date. there are other reasons that people file for copyright registration, but thoses are the two big ones. You can file for copyright protection youself (for around $35) by going to the US Copyright Office website. Hope this helped. Any questions, feel free to call me at (847)845-4345. Justin Lampel

Re: Copyright law

I would consider using the C-site copyright registration service at http://www.c-site.com/ to register your website in the Copyright Office without an attorney.

Remember to place proper copyright notices on your copyrighted works. Checkout nolo.com for detailed information.

Any good intellectual property attorney can help you think through infringement enforcement or licensing, if that becomes necessary.

Best Regards,

Daniel Juffernbruch,

patentsandlicensing.com