Copyright

Disclaimer: we are not lawyers and can only advise. This may not be based on the very latest laws and regulations. We recommend you always check yourself because copyright is your responsibility as the content provider.

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Your content

Content you write from scratch is automatically copyrighted.

When you write your own text or take your own pictures they are automatically covered by Copyright. It's free and happens automatically in the UK and US.

That means that nobody can use your content without permission.

If you find anybody using your website content you could take legal action.

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If you use copyrighted content

The above applies to everyone else too, which is why you cannot copy someone else's text for your own website content.

When you write the text for your website, it needs to be 100% original and fresh.

Using AI like ChatGPT is also risky because it uses content from across the web, much of which will be copyrighted.

You can of course take inspiration from elsewhere, but you need to write the actual words from scratch.

Being caught is simple, as large companies run software over the web to spot people stealing their wording or images. But even small companies can find you - sometimes it's as simple as searching for the wording on Google.

You most likely will be caught. Usually the affected company will send you a cease and desist letter, giving you a chance to remove the copyrighted content before they take legal action., but you can't rely on this being the case.

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This applies to images too

Do NOT save images from Google.

This is the most common way people get caught out with copyright claims.

Do not save from Wikipedia. Do not save from your competitor's websites. Do not save images from ANYWHERE other than specific royalty-free image libraries designed for this purpose.