Re: Copyrighting

From: Dan L. Burk <BURKDANL[_at_]shu.edu>
Date: Wed, 30 Jul 1997 10:17:17 -0400

On 7/29/97, Anthony Claiborne <abc[_at_]ares.csd.net> wrote:
> >
> > It may also be an audiovisual work, and/or a pictorial or graphic
> > work. Maybe a couple of other kinds of works, too. One should
> > not be too compartmentalized about these things.
>
> Agreed. But for the purpose of filing for a copyright registration,
> don't you think that regarding it as a literary work is a good
> starting point?

I think it depends on a number of factors, including the character of web page, how important protection is to the author, how much money the author cares to spend, and the current thinking in the Copyright Office about web "publication" (it seems to change without warning).

Some pages will be mostly text. Others may have significant animation. For some what you may really want is to have the code protected.

This medium is new enough that if I had an really valuable web site, and wanted to go whole hog on protection, I might give it the treatment video games used to get -- file the HTML code, as well as still shots of the graphics, and tape showing the animation -- assuming that the Copyright Office would put up with it (and even if they wouldn't, it might still be valuable to try).

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Dan L. Burk
Seton Hall University
burkdanl[_at_]shu.edu

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Received on Wed Jul 30 1997 - 14:13:02 GMT