The following is an edited transcript of my video Proper Copyright Notice
While this podcast is predominantly about trademark issues, I do from time to time like to talk about other intellectual property issues, especially copyright issues. Today, I want to share what a proper copyright notice looks like, because I do get asked this quite frequently. And once you learn it, it’s relatively simple to know and to ensure that you’re using proper copyright notice all the time, when applicable, and that provides a tremendous value.
You can see what proper copyright notice looks like on any of the content on my website, my visuals, etc. The C in a circle (the copyright symbol) the year that the work was created, the name of the copyright owner. In my case, that’s the firm’s business name, Eric M. Pelton & Associates, PLLC. And frequently you will find the phrase “All Rights Reserved” after that as part of the notice as well, because that used to be more important for some international protections, and it can’t hurt to have that phrase as well, there’s no harm in doing so. That’s what a proper copyright notice looks like.
Now, why do we want to use that? The reason is that while some copyright protection attaches automatically when a work is created and published, much better protection is automatically created under the law when you attach that proper copyright notice. Because it puts the public or anyone who sees the material, whether it’s video, a photo, a book, an article, an e-book, a webpage, it puts the viewer, the consumer on notice that the owner is asserting those copyright protections. That there is something original and protectable in the materials.
And it’s important to put it in places where the viewer / user / consumer of the materials will see it. Of course, you’re used to seeing it at the end of a movie or at the beginning of a book, but I would really recommend using it even more frequently, more prominently. You could put it, for example, on the footer of all your webpages, in every video at the end, maybe even at the beginning in the title screen as well. On an e-book or PDF of an article, you may want to put it at the footer on every page, but also more prominently at the beginning and/or at the end.
And it’s important to put it in places where the viewer / user / consumer of the materials will see it. Of course, you’re used to seeing it at the end of a movie or at the beginning of a book, but I would really recommend using it even more frequently, more prominently. You could put it, for example, on the footer of all your webpages, in every video at the end, maybe even at the beginning in the title screen as well. On an e-book or PDF of an article, you may want to put it at the footer on every page, but also more prominently at the beginning and/or at the end.16
