Federal copyright law protects everything from books by bestselling authors to drawings by your four-year-old child that you put on your refrigerator. So it should be no mystery that the law also protects words and pictures put on Internet sites. Therefore, you could be putting yourself at legal risk if you cut and paste words and pictures from an Internet site to include on your personal website or in a document you are producing. Breaking federal copyright law will not likely land you in prison--though the criminal penalties for copyright law violations are increasingly being applied--but it could lead to a lawsuit from the person or company that owns the copyright.

Copying software and downloading music and videos from the Internet is as easy as double-clicking a mouse. Ease, however, does not make these activities legal. Users must beware that the software, music, and videos are often licensed or copyrighted to companies willing to go to court to protect what they own. Just ask Napster. The now-defunct Internet company provided a peer-to-peer file-sharing network that allowed users to download copies of musical works. Recording companies, however, held the copyright to that music. Of even greater concern to individuals are cases such as the one where a federal court required Verizon to turn over the identity of an individual who downloaded six hundred copyrighted songs in one day.

This section covers copyright and trademark issues. Copyright is one of several legal issues you'll face if you have your own personal website. If you use your webpages to express strongly held political views, your statements will be protected by the First Amendment--up to a point. For example, website messages that call for immediate violence would not necessarily be protected, especially with federal and state law enforcement personnel on guard against potential terrorism.

But even before you get your first visitor, or "hit," your personal website is fraught with legal peril. The selection of a domain name for the site can get you in trouble for trademark infringement if, for example, it too closely resembles a product or a company name.

Subsection

1. Copying Words and Pictures from the Internet
2. Copying Software and Downloading Entertainment
3. Legal Issues and Your Personal Website