A website must be registered in order
to be fully protected.
Determining if copyright is owned
In order to register a copyrighted work, the registering party needs to own every aspect of
the collective work. For companies seeking to register a website, this includes every nook,
cranny, bell, whistle, and widget of the website, including the content, plus any proprietary
information; the design of the layout, plus the files (e.g., CSS files) and graphics used to
create it; plus any scripts or unique code created, including the HTML.
Smaller companies routinely outsource creative work, and if an agency or freelancer was
responsible for the design, the company may not own the copyright. Similarly, there may
be a discrepancy around the actual text if the business hired an outside copywriter to work
on the site. There are different scenarios to consider when determining who exactly owns
what copyright.
If the company employed the writer, designer, or other creator full-time when the
content was first drafted, then chances are the company benefits from a workmade-
for-hire law, which essentially states that anything created while the
employee was fully employed belongs to the company, not the employee.
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