Introduction to Copy Righting ©

Many people do writing for an employer, who typically (though not always) owns the copyright to anything written by its employees at work ("work for hire"). If you create documents, presentations, graphics, spreadsheets, brochures, manuals, or any other such thing for your employer, make sure to protect your employer's copyright by considering the each new year and its effect on copyright statements.

Any of the types of creations listed above--books, papers, images, web pages, software code, software applications, and so on--should contain a proper copyright statement to protect your employer's rights to this intellectual property. Copyright notices belong on the title page or the page after that for documents, at the bottom of web pages, spreadsheets, at the bottom/end of each page of software code you develop, and on one of the opening screens of a web-based software application, for example. If you're not putting copyright notices on your work--your employer's intellectual property--then there's no time like the present to start including one. Don't worry, it's simple and easy. There are three basic things you need to include in a proper copyright statement:

1. Copyright ©
2. the year of first publication of the item
3. and your employer's full legal name.

The first thing you should tell people is that you consider a publication (or whatever you produce) to be someone's property and not open-source/free to copy. It's good to say that kind of thing up-front, on pieces that are accessed in a linear fashion, such as a document; or on every page, for pieces that are accessed non-linearly by the user--they might enter or skip from one major area of a website or application to another, for example.

So, how do you tell the reader/user this important information? You begin with stating that it is a copyright. You can use the symbol "©", which is nearly universally recognized, or say "Copyright". I remember reading somewhere that some countries require one and some require the other, so to be safe I use "Copyright ©".

This may sound obvious, but to many people it is very confusing: simply write the year that the item was first published or released (unpublished drafts don't count). If it was published/released in 2012, then that's what year you put, even if it took you three years to finish it. If you publish/release another version in two years, you can either put "2012, 2014" or simply "2014" if it is a significant change from the original.

This is usually found on your pay stubs, hiring letter/letter of employment, W2s, medical cards, or other formal communications from your company. It should also be found in your company's house style guide (in which all of this type of information should also be included). Don't use abbreviations or acronyms, if your company is familiarly called "ABC Co.", you should instead use their formal name: "Able Baker Charlie, Inc.", for example. If you have any questions, make sure you speak with your company's intellectual property person or the company's lawyer.

So, now that we've got the parts we need and know where to place them, we can say with confidence "Copyright © 2012 Able Baker Charlie, Inc."

Now, you might think nobody actually does this in real life. Look again. The text on the inside of the magazine you're reading, the evening news broadcast, movies, websites... Copyright notices are everywhere, but they only need to inform someone that the work is owned, so they are usually placed discretely and sized small enough that you'll need your reading glasses to see it.

Enjoy the new year knowing that you can add value to your company by ensuring that their copyrights are protected. For more information on this topic, refer to The Chicago Manual of Style, and to the library of congress's website about copyrights. http://www.copyright.gov/