Now, be aware of a couple of things. While I do my very best to give you accurate advice, there is a lot of information involved. I'm working from the relevant documents issued by the government, but those don't always seem to be written to be understood by the ordinary mortal man; so I may misinterpret some of the more arcane provisions. I'm not even going to attempt to cover every possibility in the process. This is a general guide for people who have created web sites with their own content, but doesn't cover every situation — for instance, if the material is a "work for hire" (you have a contractor create the content) or if it is a "derivative work" (you reuse content from another source.)
Finally, and by far the most important caveat: I am not a lawyer. Therefore I cannot ethically tell you that what I present here is authoritative and complete. (I am a writer who has created thousands of articles and dozens of web sites, and benefited from registering their copyrights many times.) The information here is accurate to the best of my ability; but read everything with care and if you're not sure, consult the Copyright Office or a copyright attorney. Hopefully that won't be necessary.
Oh, a couple of other things: this guide covers U.S. copyrights. The laws in other countries vary considerably and this guide would not be reliable elsewhere. We are also assuming (to save space) that you're a resident of these United States.
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