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Intellectual property protection has become an increasingly hot topic throughout the rise of the Internet. However, while e-merchants spend countless hours and money in developing their website content, they often overlook adequately protecting that content. Such protection can be invaluable in the long run. Of the intellectual property protections that are available, one of the most misunderstood and overlooked by e-merchants is that of copyright.

Copyright is a form of legal protection provided for original works of authorship and protects a large variety of intellectual works such as movies, music, books, plays, paintings, poetry, sculptures, photographs and architectural designs. Under most circumstances, a copyright owner is granted an exclusive bundle of rights in their work, including the right to make and distribute copies of the work, lease the work, create derivative works, and perform and display the work publicly. More importantly, it is generally illegal for others to violate any of these rights. As this typically applies to e-merchants, they can be entitled to copyright protection for the text, photos and artwork appearing on their website, including product photos, product descriptions and other related content.

There are several basic requirements for a work to be entitled to copyright protection. The work must be original, it must be the result of at least some creative effort on the part of its author, and it must be fixed in a tangible medium of expression. Original work must be independently created by the author, regardless of whether the creation is similar to already existing works, or even if it is lacking in artistic merit. For a work to be the result of at least some creative effort, it must simply display a modicum of creativity on the part of the author. Finally, the work must exist in some physical form for at least some period of time, even if brief. Once these elements are established no other action is required for copyright and the work is essentially protected from unauthorized copying. However, registration with the U.S. Copyright Office provides advantages that are not automatically inherent at creation and are truly necessary to sufficiently protect the copyright owner.

Registering with the Copyright Office is worth the time and money. In most cases a copyright owner cannot even bring a claim against an infringer without first having registered their copyrights. Additionally, registration establishes a public record of the copyright. This puts potential infringers on notice and will establish evidence of the validity of the copyright in court. Moreover, if registration is made prior to an infringing use of content or within three months after publication of the content, statutory damages and reimbursement of attorney’s fees are available to the copyright owner. Otherwise, the copyright owner will only be entitled to an award for actual business loss, which is difficult to ascertain and even more difficult to prove in court.

It is absolutely vital for e-business operators to register their copyrights in order to truly protect their interests. The Internet presents a myriad of challenges with respect to unauthorized duplication of copyrighted content and other forms of unfair competition. Increasingly, competitors are copying e-merchants’ original content and using it for their own gain, resulting in lost profits, reduction in market share and other substantial damages, making copyright registration more important than ever.

Particularly important for e-merchants search engines allocate extra weight to unique content. If someone copies the content, it is no longer unique and can affect a website’s search engine rankings. Also, unique content distinguishes websites from their competition. Therefore, e-merchants must register their websites and related content with the Copyright Office. Unique and quality content takes time, energy and money to develop and it is critical for e-merchants to protect it.

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