Legal Question in Intellectual Property in New York

Typically, for any website copy, you should consider obtaining a copyright registration (probably as a compilation). The primary benefit is that although technically you have a copyright in the articles, the minute they are written, you cannot enforce it in court without a registration. Also, you may want to put a copyright notice on the site, with your name as author (or your entity if you have one) and the year.

I agree with Mr. Wahab's response, and add that with registration comes the availability of statutory damages for infringement. Should someone infringe your copyright, you do not have to prove that they damaged you at all to get a money judgment for what might be a fairly significant sum of money against your infringer.

I also add that copyright registration in the USA is fairly inexpensive; a patent can run in to $many thousands to prosecute to issuance or final rejection, but a copyright generally costs significantly less than that to get through the process.

I don't know if I would register as a compilation; depending on your specific circumstances, I might advise that you register each article. There is legal reason to do each, so that is a question for your very own copyright attorney whom you will hire to help you through this process.

You can learn a lot about copyright by visiting the US Copyright Office's website at www.copyright.gov .

I see you're essentially a neighbor; feel free to contact me offline if you would like my help with determining how to register the materials on your website and getting them registered.

THE INFORMATION PRESENTED HERE IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND IS NOT INTENDED, NOR SHOULD IT BE CONSTRUED, AS LEGAL ADVICE. THIS POSTING DOES NOT CREATE ANY ATTORNEY-CLIENT RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN US. FOR SPECIFIC ADVICE ABOUT YOUR PARTICULAR SITUATION, CONSULT YOUR ATTORNEY.