All new or redesigned material should give notice of copyright. This notice should consist of the word ‘copyright’ or the symbol ©, the year of first publication and the legal name of the copyright owner, for example:
© 2003 Bloggo Limited
There may be an issue in terms of what copyright belongs to you and what belongs to a supplier or customer. You may wish to review any agreement between you and a supplier or customer and your terms and conditions of business to see if clarification is needed.
Additionally, websites can be protected through trade mark registration insofar as names, logos, slogans, designs and other business and brand identities and get-ups are concerned. This can cover not just ordinary company and brand names and logos, but also for example animated logos and other brand images or cartoons used as sales aids, a phrase such as “Ask Mike” used in a website to encourage customers to click through for further information, or the actual graphic style and colour used for the design of web pages.
Domain names may also be protectable as trade marks depending on their distinctiveness.
Separate issues arise with databases, which can be protected chiefly either through copyright or the new database right. For copyright to apply, the database must have originality in the selection or arrangement of its contents whilst, for the database right to apply, the database must be the result of ‘substantial investment’. It is, of course, possible that a database will satisfy both conditions so that both copyright and the database right exist. The database right is established in the same way as copyright.
Business software can be protected similarly through copyright and trade mark registration, but may also be patentable in certain circumstances if sufficiently novel and inventive.
Of course, you should be careful not to inadvertently infringe someone else’s rights when creating a website, database or a piece of software.
