URL & Logo Copyrights?

Hi all,

I have a fairly simple question regarding copyrights. Lets say I have a domain 'www.mynewdomain.com' and I have a logo for that domain, which is my property. It is not a business as there are no profits (its not registered as a trademark either) - any earnings from ads (google) are put towards the payment of the hosting.

In the footer of my site I have a copyright notice as such:

2004-2007 © mynewdomain.com


Does this mean my logo & the name of the site is protected?


Any search online has revealed only the 'U.S. Copyright Office' - but my site is not based in the US - although of course dreamhosts servers are there.

Can somebody please explain to me how this works?


Now as an example, lets say somebody decided to use the sites logo & the domain name and prints up 1000 t-shirts with both of these things on. He then sells these t-shirts at $15.- a pop.


Is he allowed to do this?

My website is UK based - what are the legalities of this?

Many thanks in advance.

Sounds like you need a lawyer - or should I say "solicitor"?

I would assume that most of us are only familiar with US Copyright law (and even then it's a moving target) but what you describe is generally deemed sufficient to invoke copyright protection in the US - especially if you can prove date of first use.

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Thanks to the Berne Convention, your logo (and anything else you create on your site that is not clearly derivative) is protected under copyright law in most countries of the world, unless you expressly state otherwise. You cannot "copyright" your URL, since you don't actually own it (you effectively lease it).

In reply to:

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You cannot "copyright" your URL, since you don't actually own it (you effectively lease it).

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However, you could copyright the name (although I think you'd have to go beyond just "saying" it was copyrighted, if I'm not mistaken), and thus your URL would likewise be protected.
Or at least it would make sense that way

Copyrighting the name isn't usually possible, although trademarking it probably is. Trademarks are subject to different laws, and they have to be actively (and expensively) sought after.

Ah that's what I was thinking of! Thanks for correcting me Simon... *goes back to get more coffee*

And yah, they're quite expensive for a reason I'm sure. Don't need every Bob out there with $10 in their pocket buying up names as fast as possible. But then if you have the money, I suppose it's possible.