As you know from reading this column, we are always asking questions.

This is the beginning of a series of articles asking questions and getting answers on a topic very close to your heart; marketing your creative services on the World Wide Web. Future pieces will talk about what techniques work and what do not. We will look at everything from design criteria to how to get responses from your Web page. Currently, I am seeking interviews with those of you marketing yourself successfully with a Web page and ready to publicize your success. Fill out my "Web Page Article" e-mail form so I'll know it's from you!

For now, let's look at protecting your creative work in an electronic environment.

The following people have generously contributed their assistance: Patrick Doyle, Eutechnics-Fletcher Flora, Digimarc Corporation; Susan Miller, Susan Miller Represents; Sam Merrell, Synthetic Imaging; Kevin Dorris, E-folio.

• Your Web page, like a CD-ROM, does contain copyrighted material for you to protect. It is only the technology of the electronic environment that makes your copyright on the Web seem less obvious and protected. You still have the protection determined in the original federal law; to own what you create and control who copies it.
• Photos are particularly easy to copy and paste into a new document. Since the uneducated or dishonest viewer may consider everything on the Internet public property, take a moment to protect your intellectual property. Be sure to put in small type your copyright notice under each and every photo you post on-line. Having the notice on your home page is not enough.
• Always try to reduce the image size for screen viewing. Lower the image resolution to 72dpi and size it to be 400 pixels or smaller on the longest side. As a deterrent, this will provide a good screen image, but will generally not be suitable for print usage.
• Obviously you are most safe if you don't put your valuable images or text on-line unless you can restrict access. This theory means you remove important circulation of your work for self-promotion! A good solution maybe to register your work with the U.S. Copyright Office and work with your professional organizations to educate buyers and prosecute violators.
• When a client accesses your Website, their browser automatically caches your page to a file on their hard drive. Have they violated your copyright? Technically, yes. At this time, many copyright experts would agree that "copying" and copyright violation begins when your work is copied to a file on your client's hard drive, but this is still an area of intense study.
• Is a link to your work on the World Wide Web a copyright violation? Probably not, since your URL is more like a street address and not subject to copyright protection.
• The industry custom seems to be if you place your work on the Web, you are implying permission for others to link to your Web site. We suggest you monitor the Web for links to your site and adding copy to ask others to get permission before linking.
• Be careful of collections or compilations of public domain items (text, graphics). Though you may be able to freely copy any single item, the entire work is probably protected by a copyright.
• Watermarking technology is designed to protect your images and verify ownership by communicating copyright information. Some programs will allow you to locate and track watermarked images across the Web. Other programs enable you to place a link from your image to your personal profile listing.
• Sam Merrell suggests two products (Signum's SureSign and Digimarc's PictureMarc™) that can embed author codes (AKA watermarks) into your on-line imagery. These watermarks contain data that can be subsequently detected by PhotoShop (to notify you that your on-line work is copyright-protected), and further, to direct potential clients to an on-line directory of information about you. Be prepared however: in the same way that most locks can be picked, watermarks can be rendered unintelligible, or removed, from on-line images. For example, if you are using the Digimarc's product, PictureMarc™, you will want to read and follow the watermarking instructions carefully. Then, do your own testing. Only the strongest settings will create the most robust watermarks -- and even those can be defeated.
• Don't be a violator yourself. You can assume digital material is protected unless it specifically says the item is in the public domain.

Additional sites to visit for more information: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright (U.S. Copyright office on-line at the Library of Congress), http://www.vonerlach.ch/content/articles/wipo.htm (World Intellectual Property Organization treaties on copyright), http://www.berkmancenter.org (Harvard University free on-line courses on privacy and intellectual property issues).