Copyright Attorney Warning

Warning: Don't Take Content, Images, Data Or Code Or You Could Be At Serious Financial Risk!!!

Want to see a real life listing and more explanation of your exposure? Dozier Internet Law Copyright Attorney Infringement Pages!

What is Website Copyright Infringement? And, what could happen that could cause you to seek the assistance of a copyright lawyer or copyright attorneys?

Copyright law protects original creative work. When you take someone's work, that act can be copyright infringement. On a website, creative works can include:

• The words used (text).
• The graphics and images used.
• The data present.
• The HTML code, other code, and scripts.

Identifying Risk as a Copyright Attorney

To get a better idea of your exposure, you may want to consider reading about the real, everyday risks on the the Dozier Internet Law copyright attorney and infringement pages.

The following excuses aren't excuses!

• My programmer did it!
• I didn't know it was used, borrowed or taken!
• I have a corporation with no assets!
• You didn't have a registered copyright!

The bottom line is that if you are using the creative works of another without direct permission then you are personally at risk for both civil damages and even potential criminal prosecution!

So, What Do You Have To Lose?

We just happen to have some information for you on this also. Dozier Copyright Attorney and Internet Business Start-ups.

• It is easy to register a copyright, and hard to know if a site is registered. If it is, then you will likely have to pay the owner's attorney fees (the average attorney fee cost for a plaintiff to try a copyright infringement case in 2004 was $800,000) and statutory damages (at least $750 but up to $150,000 per infringement).
• If the site is not registered, then it is easy for the owner to register the site before filing a lawsuit. The main difference is that actual damages (or your profits) are usually the basis for a recovery, and imputed license fees for use of another party's creative works can be in the millions of dollars. Plaintiffs usually are very aggressive and will find an expert to testify that there is great value in the works you have taken.
• Your site can be taken down without notice. This is a new tool passed by Congress as part of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA). One day your business is going along great, and the next day your business is gone, off the web in its entirety.
• You could be blacklisted from organic search results. Google, for instance, removes indexed sites for copyright infringement, and can program its spiders to avoid your site from being re-indexed.
• Google will ban intellectual property infringers from its Adwords and Adsense programs by terminating the accounts, and even prevent you from submitting sitemaps.

Copyright Attorney Thoughts on Infringement

There are plenty of methods to locate those using someone else's creative works. Dozier Internet Law copyright attorneys get weekly reports of text copied from clients' sites by others. Each copyright lawyer also monitors organic and pay per click results for our clients. Expect to pay dearly when you get caught. And, you will likely get caught. It is just a matter of time.

So, make sure your programmers know that "borrowing" code is not okay. Make sure that whoever contributes to your text knows that getting ideas from others is quite alright, but using the creative expression of those ideas is not. Don't ever allow anyone to use images on your site unless you have either a license (which costs money) or satisfactory and firm proof that such a license is not needed (public domain works or your own internal creative works).

Copyright Infringement is a serious matter. Don't do it. Don't let anyone working for your site do it. Cease and desist letters are niceties...a nice way of warning you. But they are not required. Envision a marshall, sheriff or deputy knocking on your door one night to serve you with a multi-million dollar lawsuit filed in some distant location. As copyright attorneys, Dozier Internet Law lives it with clients on both sides. It isn't a pleasant experience and often leads to financial ruin. Just don't do it.

Interested in getting your own official Dozier Internet Law "Copyright Attorney Infringement Warning" button that links to this page? You may have seen this on a client's website. But you don't have to be a client of the firm to get one for free! Just click here: Dozier Internet Law Copyright Attorney Infringement Notice Sign-up.