CONSIDERATIONS FOR WEB DESIGNERS PERSPECTIVES

Considerations for Web Designers Perspectives Regarding Copy Right Issues

Considerations for Web Designers Perspectives Regarding Copy

Although notices are not a requirement under the Berne Convention, (which states that copyright is automatic, whether you mark your work or not), it was a requirement of some countries covered under the Universal Copyright Convention (UCC). It is strongly recommended that you properly mark your work as the use of notices will make it clear that copyright exists, and help to deter infringement. Using copyright notices for information on wording you notices.

Websites are particularly open to abuse, especially theft of content and images. You should assume that files will be accessed randomly, downloaded as individual chunks, and distributed out of context. It is therefore important to include a copyright notice on as many individually deliverable items as possible: Image file properties should include a notice. Under Windows for example, right clicking on a image will allow you to bring up the properties dialogue where you may enter details about the file, (though this will only work with certain file types). More typically, your image software will provide a way to insert comments into the file; this is preferred as these are harder to remove. Every page should contain a notice in the visible text (text shown on screen), or at least link to your notice in the body of the page. Every delivered file should include a notice in non visible text.

For example, in HTML files and CSS stylesheets a copyright notice can be included as a comment. Watermarking may be worth considering if you have a lot of valuable images on your site. Creating websites for third parties If you design web sites for others, it is important for all parties to understand ownership. Ensure that rights are granted as appropriate, this may mean that the copyright to the site is passed to the client upon payment, or in the case of work undertaken in stages, rights to individual features may be handed over for work completed to date.

Where material for the web site is sourced from elsewhere, or where third party technologies are to be used, appropriate licenses should be obtained. Moral rights: Will the developer be credited for the work on the web site? If so, the developer will also want to reserve the right to remove the credit if the site if later developed in a way that would discredit the original developer. Copyright registration Websites are one of the easiest things to copy, particularly any written content and images, so registration is particularly important. For information on how to register a website, please see our factsheet P-23: Registering websites. Detecting infringement Copyscape is a useful tool that will compare your web pages to others indexed by Google and return any it finds with matching text. Dealing with infringement. If you notice another web site using your content, the best place to start is by reading our copyright infringement fact sheet It ...