The contract is composed of a writing, a signature, implied warranties, warranty disclaimer, authority to bind, and terms of service.
Statute of Frauds: State laws that specify that contracts for the sale of goods worth more than $500 and contracts that require actions that cannot be completed within one year must be created by a signed writing.
To a Designer: Adequately describes the work to be done. The provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code states that the designer needs to have a written contract signed by site owners in order to protect him/herself.
ie. If the website design exceeds $500, then the designer risks not being able to enforce an oral promise to pay on the part of the site owner - no matter how much work has been put into site design, if it over $500 the site owner may not be obligated to pay the price verbally agreed upon since there is nothing in writing and signed by the site owner
To a Site Owner: The design and creation of a site involves the creation of copyrightable elements by the designer and the transfer of some or all of those rights to the site owner
ie. Without a signed written contract, the site owner may end up not owning anything except some non-exclusive rights to the work as a website only.
To Both Parties: Clearly benefits site owner and the designer to have a written contract signed by both parties defining what the rights and obligations of each party in the design relationship. Any questions or doubts could be eliminated if the contract is prepared thoroughly. It's a win-win situation.
Intellectual property: General term that includes all products of the human mind. Intellectual property rights typically include patent, copyright, trademark and trade secret rights.
Copyright: A right granted by a government to the author or creator of a literary or artistic work. It is for a specific length of time and gives the creator sole and exclusive right to print, publish or sell the work. In the US, all programs, graphics, linkware, music, lyrics, writing, fonts and so on are protected by basic copyright law.
Public domain: Created materials which either do not by law get copyright protection, or their protection under the law has lapsed.
MYTH: Everything on the internet is in public and therefore in the public domain, and is thus freely usable without permission.
Trademark: A distinctive mark, device, motto, or implement that a company affixes to the goods it produces for identification purposes. "™" indicates unregistered trademark rights and and "®" indicates a registered mark. Not required to obtain national register.
Services Mark: Similar to a trademark, but it is used to identify services provided. Not required to obtain national register.
If a creator is concerned about the theft of his/her work, then a "Terms and Conditions of Use" document is created to cover all the legal bases.
While the © symbol is optional, the use of the word "Copyright" is mandatory (NOTE: In most word-processing programs, © is created by holding down the ALT key and typing 0169; on a Mac it is the Option key and the "g" key.
If a creator wants exclusive rights to the trademark then he/she must register it in the national registry and therefore uses the "®" symbol. When formally applying for national registration of a mark, you must submit: an application, drawing of the mark if graphic, and sample of the mark as you have actually used it to identify your company's product or service. Obtaining full registration usually takes up to several years due to the slow response rate of the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) which generally responds to correspondence once every six months. It is best to have an attorney handle the USPTO filing of the application and correspondence since the correspondence usually uses highly legal jargon and case citing with regard to analysis and argument about the application.
Also creating a digital watermark shows promise in protecting digital works. It is digital code or stream embedded undetected in a digital image or audio file; it can also be encrypted to protect its contents without altering the fidelity of the contents
Copy control: An electronic mechanism for limiting the number of copies that one can make of a digital work.
Actual legalities of copyright apply to Web materials through three criteria: fixation to a tangible media, originality, and minimal creativity.
Under certain circumstances, original material can be used under the "fair use" statutes. That allows certain creations to be used in parodies/satires, news reports, reviews, and for educational and teaching purposes.
"[o]nly works with an expired copyright, works created by the government, or works specifically dedicated by the copyright holders as "public domain" [may be] considered public domain. NEVER assume something is in public domain. It is prudent to always assume something is protected by copyright." (Redistribution in Graphics Has To Stop (R.I.G.H.T.S.))
How to legally add pizzazz to your site: determined by what web resources you use and what kind of site you use them on
Need to READ - not skim - the terms of usage for each site - some give complete freedom, other limit your usage, often warning you not to alter the images, or give you permission to use the images only on non-commercial or personal pages, etc.
It is your responsibility to make sure the graphics you"borrow" from the free site are provided with the owner's permission. If the site doesn't say anything about the legalities of their collections, then assume that at least some of the graphics and materials available are not legally theirs to provide. Even if you thought you were using freely provided material, you could still be held liable for copyright infringement.
Best Choice: Create your own, don't steal!
To register work, download copyright forms from the U.S. Copyright office (http://loc.gov/copyright/forms/) Cost of copyrighting a work: $35. Deposit a copy of your work with the Copyright Office within 90 days of creation.
Alternative "poor man's copyright protection" method: Print out a hard copy of your work, or store it on disk, and seal it in an envelope. Then mail it to yourself via certified mail, return receipt requested. Do not open the envelope when you receive it; instead store it along with the receipt in a safe place. Make a detailed list and/or a duplicate of whatever you put in the package, and store along with the unopened, postmarked envelope. This is to help provide credible evidence for the date of creation of the work ; however, only a legal registration gives you the legal to sue for copyright infringement.
NOTE: This only applies in the U.S. Most Western European countries, along with Canada, Mexico, Japan and Australia are signatories of the Berne Convention of 1886)
If your work was stolen, first thing to do is send a "cease and desist" letter to the violator as well as to the ISP and/or website host. The letter should include specific details about: where the copyrighted work is located online, the date is was created and/or first published, and, if registered, its copyright registration number. Specific details about the violation will be provided, including all pertinent links and file names. Ask for the immediate removal of the work and give a specified time frame or deadline to remove. If sent via snail mail, send via certified letter. If the work is not removed (or a fee paid/whatever the owner deems appropriate), then further consequences may follow.
Designers should be extremely careful to avoid potential defamation liability by altering a photo or image of a person in a way that depicts the person unfavorably. Even in some countries, a true and honest comparison of products may give rise to product disparagement. There is a fine line between justified criticism and defamation; therefore commercial web sites need to consider the specific laws in their jurisdiction (and consider consulting a lawyer) before making negative, evaluative statements about other people or products.