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© The Women's Networking Company Ltd 2008. All rights reserved. VAT No. 871 9511 05
 
TWBC members can register to become part of
our Expert Panel and answer questions here
 
Is it a legal requirement to have your company copywrite message on each page of your website?  If so, what exactly needs to be included? 
Dr Anna Molony
Chapman Molony
(Patent & Trade Mark Attorneys)
Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
It is important to obtain a trade mark registration for your company name and/or logo if you wish to:

a) Be able to stop other parties using a trade mark which is the same as or similar to your company name/logo in respect of the same or similar goods or services that you provide. A trade mark registration for your company name/logo can therefore protect the goodwill and reputation that you have for providing your goods/services.

b) Guarantee your continued freedom to use your trade mark. Without a trade mark registration it is possible that a third party might obtain a trade mark registration for a trade mark that is the same as or sufficiently similar to your company name/logo (for the same or similar goods/services to those which you provide) and be able to stop you from using your company name/logo to sell your goods/services.

Although it is possible for a trade mark owner to build up common law/unregistered trade mark rights by virtue of the use which the trade mark owner has made of their trade mark, a long period of use (typically at least 5 years) over a wide geographic area or a significant part of the relevant
market is usually required to obtain unregistered rights that can be enforced to provide the same sort of rights as a) and to prevent registration by another party, as in b).

It is a common misconception that registering a company name with Companies House gives any right to use the company name as a trade mark (i.e. to offer goods or services under it) or any right to stop other parties using the trade mark. Registration of a company name simply ensures that no other party can register exactly the same company name.

Further information about UK trade mark registrations can be found at:
www.ipo.gov.uk or in our information sheet "UK Trade Mark Registrations" at
www.chapmanmolony.com/content/resources/informationsheets.htm

Liz Harding
Commercial IP / Technology Lawyer
Harding Legal Limited
London SE24

There is no legal requirement for you to place any sort of copyright notice on your website, but by doing so you put users on notice that you own the copyright.  This becomes important in the event that someone ever copies your web pages.  Whether or not you put it on every page is entirely up to you - I would be tempted to put a simple notice such as Copyright Harding Legal Limited 2009, all rights reserved at the bottom of each page to ensure that it is clear that all content is owned by you.

Karen Purves
Have More Clients
Betchworth, Surrey

It's not a legal requirement but one of good business sense. You want to protect what you have written from others taking. Although, that doesn't stop the unscrupulous!

Everything you write on behalf of the company should be protected unless you want to release it for the world to use. This is done through Creative Commons.

Katherine Stockwell
Howlett Clarke Solicitors
Brighton, East Sussex

There is no legal requirement to compel you to include a copyright notice on your website, on each page or at all. However, it is useful to include such a notice to ensure that visitors to the website are made aware of your rights as owner of the copyright works and to act as a warning to potential infringers.

A suggested simple wording would be along the lines of stating the name of the marker (or makers) and the first year of publication (for example, "© XYZ Ltd 2000").

If you are putting large amounts of information that you think may be printed, distributed or reproduced then you may wish to include a more detailed notice stating that reproduction is prohibited without your consent.

I hope this email answers your question - if you require any further information or advice, please do not hesitate to contact me.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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