Re: patent or copyright for a website?

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On 8/01/03, Gaston L. Collins wrote:
> I have a question about a website business I thought of. It
> will be similar to a very popular site, except with several
> new and better features. I think this site will require
> software to run on the server just for one of the features.
>
> 1. Do I need a copyright or a patent?
>
> 2. Do I copyright/patent each individual feature or the
> entire site?
>
> 3. Does the website actually have to be built and working
> before I can protect it?
>
> 4.I've also heard that I could write a description of my
> idea and get the document notarized in front of a witness.
> I've heard this will document when I conceived the idea.
> True?
>
> Thanks,
> Gaston L. Collins

Both copyright and patent protection may be appropriate.

I'm not qualified to advise on copyrights as I am a US patent
agent. However, basically a copyright protects only the actual
content of the web site from actual copying. Another web site
may work the same as yours and/or be based on the same idea,
but that wouldn't infringe your copyright. Nevertheless, you
could register your copyright with the Library of Congress
(assuming you are in the USA) if you wish to protect the
content from being copied.

A patent, OTOH, protects aspects such as novel features in the
way your web site operates and/or in what it actually does,
without protecting the actual words and/or artistic content.
If there are features such as these that are novel and not
obvious you may be able to obtain a patent protecting them,
and anything falling within the claims of your patent is then
protected even if it is not derived from your site, and even
if the infringer has never seen your site.

From the above it should be apparent that a copyright will
protect content whereas a patent protects features, very
roughly speaking. You need to ask if the content is unique, or
if the way the site works and what it does is unique. Also
bear in mind that copyright is easily and cheaply registered
and lasts a long time, whereas patents are more complicated
and expensive to obtain and last only 20 years from filing. It
should be possible for you to register your copyright
yourself. OTOH, most people need the services of a patent
agent or a patent attorney to prepare and 'prosecute' a patent
application, and there is no guarantee that a patent will be
granted, depending on what has been done before.

BTW, in the US a patent attorney is someone who has qualified
both as a patent agent and as an attorney. As a patent agent I
have the same standing as a patent attorney when representing
someone before the Patent and Trademark Office, but cannot
represent anyone in court, for example.

Alun Palmer, Registration No. 47,838

Re: patent or copyright for a website?, 8/11/03, by Alun Palmer.

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