Both written content and images from websites are extremely easy to copy. In the UK there is no official registration method in place to get copyright protection. As long as the original work which has been created falls into the copyright categories including written and pictorial content, photographs, videos, music and art, the owner will not have to do anything to establish copyright.

There are a number of worldwide conventions in place such as the Berne Convention that state there is no necessity to register works to be protected by copyright. This is in place whether or not the work is marked as copyright.

In order to help protect work/content on a website, it is recommended to clearly mark the website or pages with a recognised © symbol and include the name of the copyright owner and also the year of publication (eg; take a look at the footer (left side) of this site).

People who develop and provide content or images for websites which they do not own need to establish copyright and ownership of the material. Likewise, when websites are sold to others it should be made clear that copyright of the site will be passed on to the buyer. This is usually done once payment has been received.

If material which has been sourced from elsewhere or if third party technologies are to be used, licenses will have to be amended to show new ownership. This will also determine whether the license is able to be sold on legitimately.

If the website developer is being credited for work they should ensure that they are given the right to remove the credit if the website is then altered or amended by another in a way which may discredit the original developer.

Tools which can help to detect infringement of copyright, such as Copyscape make comparisons of content or web pages to others indexed by Google and provide information on any matching text it finds.

If a person or persons download, distributes or put material on the web which does not belong to them without the owner’s permission, unless any of the exceptions apply, they will be in breach of copyright.

There are a number of exceptions that allow limited use of material belonging to others without their permission. This is known as ‘fair dealing’ and include reviews and reporting on current events and teaching in educational establishments to help the visually impaired and the playing of music which is not for profit. Another exception is drawing, photographs or films of buildings, sculptures and works of art which are in a public place or in places open to the public.

To be infringement of copyright, the work has to be either that the material is identical or so similar that the original work cannot be seen as a similar idea or concept.

Computer programmes are covered the same as literary works which means that the copyright on a computer programme lasts for the life of the author plus seventy years.

When any material is used in legal proceedings copyright is not infringed.

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