I want to protect some of the original writing on my website & was wondering how to do this... a)Can I put the Copyright notation on it without revealing my real name? b)How do I have proof that it is my original work? How about saving the writing in MS Word? c)Is there any point in copyrighting the articles/website?

All Answers To Questions

A statement that the works are copyrighted and cannot be used without out your permission is sufficient. The problem arises in catching someone using them illegally and the expense of pursuing the matter in civil court.

any original work is copyright automatically. The symbol, or other statement about copyright is just letting others know your claim. google a passage of text that is unlikly to occur anywhere else to see if anyone else has stolen your work. be sure to enclose the phrase in quotes.

a)Can I put the Copyright notation on it without revealing my real name? Yes. There is no reason that you could not use an entity or trading name other than your real name, or simply omit the name part of the notice altogether. b) How do I have proof that it is my original work? How about saving the writing in MS Word? I don't see how MS word could ever prove it is original (confused). If you mean that the Word file will have a 'created date' - this proves nothing, it only shows what time your computer thought it was (I could make a word document today with a creation date in 1970 if I wanted). If you need evidence, I would use an registration service like Copyright Witness - that's what they are there for. It's pretty cheap and fast too. c)Is there any point in copyrighting the articles/website? You will have copyright from the point you create it (there is no 'copyrighting' as such - it's automatic). I suppose the question really is 'how would you feel if someone else used you work as their own? Maybe included in a book they were selling, or as their own website content?' If you don't care how they use your work it doesn't matter. If you do care then you will want to take action when you discover infringement of your work. See link below - which explains how to pursue an infringement case. In the case of websites, if you complain to the ISP hosting the copied content they will normally take the copied content (or even the whole site) down pretty fast.