I spent a little time investigating copyrights yesterday. In particular, I was concerned about copyrighting these columns, and the content of my website in general. Not that I am overly concerned about people borrowing from my page, but hey, if someone is going to use something I created to make money, then dammit, I want a cut.
What I found out was enlightening. I had assumed that I needed to put a copyright statement explicitly on each page, something like "© 2000 James Kuzeja". (I just wanted to use the c in a circle thingy, really.) However, it turns out that the US now follows the Berne Convention, and has since March 1, 1989. Under these rules, original works are copyrighted immediately upon creation, once they are set down in a tangible and perceptible form.
If I wanted to sue someone, though, I'd probably be better off if I displayed the copyright notice and also registered the work with the Copyright Office. That unfortunately costs money, and it wasn't clear to me if an entire website can be registered all at once or if each page needs to be registered separately. If it's the latter, then I am too cheap to consider it.
You can learn more about the copyright process at this address: US Copyright Office FAQ. I need to look at it a little more myself.
You can respond to my ranting here.
Monkey see, monkey rant.