Licensing Your Website

From the title of this blog, one might imagine having to stand in line at some type of bureau for websites to get the proper licensing needed, but it is actually not that complicated. In the most simplistic scenario, you are the owner of your website and thus own the copyright to all of the intellectual property you create.

If you want the copyright to content created by someone else, even if they write or take photos for your site, you must get their signed written permission. In other words, they must sign over their copyright to you. In either case, the copyright statement in the barter of your website should indicate that you or your business owns the rights. If you do not want anyone to use your content, you can leave the default copyright clause accepted in most countries: “All Rights Reserved.”

In some circumstances, however, you may want to give others certain permissions to use your work. In such a case, you can hire a lawyer to create your own complex license or use a Creative Commons license, which allows you to have “Some Rights Reserved” but also lend some rights to others for the usage you specify. This site, for example, is released under such a license.

Photo Source: Flickr