Copyright

[Avooc]

Hey, I recently created a personal website and was wondering what I would need to do to legally put, "Copyright © 2011", in the footer of my site.

[Geek-9pm]

Simple. You just put "Copyright © 2011" on the bottom of the page. But without the quotation marks.

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-who.html

[Aegis]

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

I hadn't paid close attention to the link in Geek's post.

This is a Frequently Asked Questions page on the website of the United States Copyright Office. 
You must file with them for actual copyright protection, but do read the page for more information.
Just having the Copyright mark/verbiage on the site is probably not enough if you really want to
protect the site.  Are you willing to litigate if someone violates copyright?

My link goes to a general list of questions.  His is a bit more specific.

[Salmon Trout]

This is a Frequently Asked Questions page on the website of the United States Copyright Office. 
You must file with them for actual copyright protection

I don't think that would do me any good, seeing that I live in Great Britain, and we don't actually know where Avooc lives, do we? but hey...

[Geek-9pm]

My earlier post was to show anyone can claim a copyrigjt, even a minor or not a USA citizen. Here is bit frm the pDF found elsewhere on the site.

How to Secure a Copyright
Copyright Secured Automatically upon Creation
The way in which copyright protection is secured is frequently
misunderstood. No publication or registration or other action
in the Copyright Office is required to secure copyright. (See 
following note.) There are, however, certain definite advan­
tages to registration. See “Copyright Registration” on page 7.

In other words, basically what I said. By they warn you to learn the details. Some works may not qualify. Is it your work? Is it real? did you steal it? You can not claim something that is already in Public Domain.

Examle: A space alien gives yhou a handbook on how to solve the enery crisis written is a starange lanuage you have to learn. You are the only one who understands it. The manual can not be copyrighted. Because:
1. Space Aleins are notorious for putting stuff in Public Domain and then not telling you.
2. Nobody can read the manual put you, so it may not qualify. If somebody else already translated it, you can not colaim it.
3. You can do better by writing .your own story about a Space Alien who came to visit you. That will work.

[Salmon Trout]

even a minor or not a USA citizen.

How awful to be one of either of those unfortunate categories of people! Worse still, both!

[Geek-9pm]

How awful to be one of either of those unfortunate categories of people! Worse still, both!

It souled come as no surprise that existing International Copyright Law is not a U.S.A. product. When doing some research on it, you may see the term  'The Uruguay Round.' Amazing a a little county got to be part of one of the most important agreements of the past century. 

[Salmon Trout]

'The Uruguay Round.' Amazing a a little county got to be part of one of the most important agreements of the past century. 

Uruguay is nearly as big as Wayne County, is that right?

[Avooc]

Thanks for the help, and I do live in the US so yay.

[Geek-9pm]

Uruguay is nearly as big as Wayne County, is that right?

I don't think so.
The size of Uruguay is about 68,037 square miles.
The population is 3,494,382 Uruguayans
Compare that to the city of Los Angeles 3,833,995
Here is a map. Don't ergot to turn left when you get to the mouth of the river.

[soybean]

http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/
You must file with them for actual copyright protection, ...

Not true. A formal filing for copyright protection is not required.  This point is covered in the reference you cited.

[BC_Programmer]

 for Canada- And I suspect it might be a modified version of "inherited" laws from Britain (and it may be similar to other commonwealth countries... )

Criteria for Copyright Protection

The Copyright Act, furthermore, sets out key criteria for the recognition of a copyright in Canada:

    Originality: Copyrights may only be extended to original works. A work must be “original” in the sense that it must not be a copy itself. As such, one cannot copy another’s work and then claim a copyright for him/her self.
    Fixation: In order to claim copyright, the original work must be expressed in some material form, capable of identification, and having a more or less permanent endurance. One cannot, for example, copyright a thought in his/her mind, but can copyright a thought expressed on paper.
    Nationality: For a copyright to exist in Canada, the creator must, at the time the work was created, be a citizen or subject of Canada, or of a foreign country that is a member of a multinational or binational agreement to which Canada is also a member.

Automatic Protection of Intellectual Property

Under the Canadian Copyright Act, copyrights are recognized automatically upon creation of a work that meets the three criteria described above (originality, fixation and nationality). In other words, once a person creates an object, they are immediately entitled to a copyright without any further action. This contrasts with other sorts of intellectual property rights, such as patents, in which the owner must apply to a government agency in order to have their property right established.

The Copyright Act does, however, provide for the voluntary registering of copyrights, and sets out some of its advantages. According to the Act, a certificate of registration creates the legal presumption that (1) a copyright exists in the work and (2) that the person registered is the owner of the copyright in that work. These legal presumptions are helpful in the event of a court action since there is no onus on the person claiming the copyright to in fact show that s/he is the owner of the work.

In this case, registering a copyright basically means, that in the case of court action to protect your copyright, you won't have to prove you own the copyright. Not having a registered copyright doesn't prevent you from taking court action against what you feel to be infringements, you just have to prove that, yes, you did it first.

[Salmon Trout]

I don't think so.
The size of Uruguay is about 68,037 square miles.

You did know that I was I was being sarcastic, right? Because you wrote "'The Uruguay Round.' Amazing a a little county got to be part of one of the most important agreements of the past century."

Or didn't you?

[Aegis]

Well, I was wrong again, as usual.   

Thanks to those who corrected me.  I learned something, too. 
I missed that part of the reading.

So, being that it's web content, just affix the copyright as you originally stated.  (Obvious.)
You might consider copyright submission if you feel you need the extra protection.

Again, my apologies for the incorrect information I posted earlier.

[Geek-9pm]

You did know that I was I was being sarcastic, right? Because you wrote "'The Uruguay Round.' Amazing a a little county got to be part of one of the most important agreements of the past century."

Or didn't you?

You got me.  Now what do I say?