Legal Information in the Footer

[benw36]

Hey guys,
New-er to design – about ready to publish my first site. However, I am wondering what to put in the footer – in regards to legal information. What exactly do I put down there for the client? and why?
Thanks in advance.

[chrisburton]

Depends on the client. Do they have a registered trademark, do you just want to protect the copy, do they have service use terms, etc?

[benw36]

The business is registered with the state, but I don’t think it is trademarked? Is that the same thing? or not? Taxes are paid and all that good stuff.

I am wanting to protect the copy and design as well. No terms of service.

[chrisburton]

No, it’s not the same thing. You can simply put “© 2013 – All Rights Reserved”, which is pretty self explanatory. You reserve all the rights to the content.

The design of the site might be an issue and is more complicated than slapping a copyright symbol on it. Such as, you can’t copyright CSS or HTML and since CSS is what is behind most of the design, you’re pretty much screwed. However, there have been legal cases (one which you can find on Wikipedia under “Trade Dress”) regarding stealing a website’s design.

If it’s artwork, I’d suggest to your client that he/she registers it.

[benw36]

Thanks a bunch man

[Author]

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