Legal Question in Technology Law in Virginia

Re: Copyrighting website

Under the U.S. Copyright Act, copyright arises from the moment of creation or affixation into tangible media. Thus, when you wrote the code to create the Web site, copyright was vested in you automatically (unless it vested in another party by agreement or as a work made for hire).

The legislative trade for automatic copyright protection was that, in order to enforce copyright against any party, the work must be registered before commencing an action in federal district court. Further, remedies are restricted if the complained-of infringement occurs before the registration of the work. Thus, it is prudent to timely register any work of commercial value.

Registration of computer code is a bit more complicated than that of literary works, but it is still not an expensive process.

Best wishes,

LDWG