Many parts of your website may be protected by different types of intellectual property (IP) rights. For example:
• E-commerce systems, search engines or other technical Internet tools may be protected by patents or utility models;
• Software, including the text-based HTML code used in websites, can be protected by copyright and/or patents, depending on the national law;
• Your website design is likely to be protected by copyright;
• Creative website content, such as written material, photographs, graphics, music and videos, may be protected by copyright;
• Databases can be protected by copyright or by sui generis database laws;
• Business names, logos, product names, domain names and other signs posted on your website may be protected as trademarks;
• Computer-generated graphic symbols, screen displays, graphic user interfaces (GUIs) and even webpages may be protected by industrial design law;
• Hidden aspects of your website (such as confidential graphics, source code, object code, algorithms, programs or other technical descriptions, data flow charts, logic flow charts, user manuals, data structures, and database contents) can be protected by trade secret law, as long as they are not disclosed to the public and you have taken reasonable steps to keep them secret.
SOURCE: https://www.wipo.int/sme/en/documents/business_website_fulltext.html
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