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Date:	Sun, 14 Aug 2005 12:08:00 PDT7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
To:	scoug-help@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Help: c-Site Copyright Applications

Content Type: text/plain

Larry Tawa wrote:
>
> Does c-Site (TM) Copyright applications really work - true copyright
> protection or is this just a way to spend money at Godaddy?

(Lurkers - the url is at http://www.godaddy.com/ and on the left sidebar
choose "c-Site".)

Larry, copyright and trademark issues are a bit complex but my
"non-legal opinion" (plus whatever other disclaimers are necessary so
you can't sue _me_) is that you make your copyright [(c),(p)] and
trademark [trademark] claims on the items you want to protect.
"Registered trademarks" (different from "trademarks") require a
substantial fee and allow you to collect punitive damages.

I use (c) and (p) extensively, plus some claims for trademarks. Note
that a trademark is not all-inclusive; "Tawa Cat Fur Pillows" can be
_your_ trademark while "Tawa Sports Car Gasoline Additive" can be the
trademark for someone else.

Finally, how much protection are you looking for? Most things can be
modified slightly to subvert the protection.

Slightly off-topic but in the same realm: Patents. There are two
different kinds; the one most people don't know about is a design
patent.

I no longer pay for U.S. copyrights since I'm protected without filing
anything as per the latest Copyright act. If you're worried but don't
want to file (through GoDaddy or directly) you may want to send a copy
to your attorney and ask him to datestamp it and put it in your file.
I'm told that the old trick of sending it to yourself Registered (to
datestamp it) and not opening the received letter no longer works in
court but I haven't seen anything substantive about specific cases.

Hope this helps,

- Peter

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