Hi,
First off, we assume you mean _copyright_ in your request. That's a very
important clarification.
As far as copy protecting your material on any sort of digital media -
forget it. You can't. You could encrypt the material and provide a key to
legit "owners", but this would be cumbersome for a large distribution.
We'll define large as more than 100 copies, just for the sake of
discussion.
In the US, if you own a legit copyright for the material, you are covered
against unauthorized copying / distribution of the material under the
DCMA, aka the Millenium Act. Unfortunately, the enforcement of that
copyright is pretty much up to the copyright holder. So, if you're willing
to invest the effort, you could see remediation in the event that you ID
the perpetrator and prosecute but bear in mind that YOU will bear the
burden for most of that footwork...
I see a lot of related stuff in my day-to-day work (parts of my org.
distribute license computer software) and there are copyright holders out
there that are extremely aggressive in protecting their intellectual
property. They do go after sites and our org. sees "take down requests"
from various law enforcement. The drawback is that in the grand scheme,
your effort to enforce competes for available time of enforcement with
the likes of BIG CORPORATIONS. In other words, good luck getting law
enforcement to help you if you need to go after someone.
Bottom line - what is your IP worth? If it's intersting stuff with a
limited market - put it out there and hope for the best. If you have
something really unique, hire a good attorney and be prepared to lay out
some cash to file papers and write demand letters and that sort of thing.
It's a "cost of doing business".
I'm not a world expert on the topic, but I do have exposure if you want to
talk off-line.
regards,
rml
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