Website Maintenance and IPR

Part 1

Using the South University Online Library and the Internet, research about intellectual property rights (IPR) and copyright laws.

Scenario

Stan Smith, a recent graduate from a small southern Utah town, has started a small art and design studio. A client requests him to create a design and screen-print it on about twenty shirts to be used for business promotional purposes. Smith creates the design and goes to the only screen printer in town to have the shirts printed with his new design. The printer is Smith's former part-time employer, who had largely provided Smith with the necessary economic resources while Smith commuted regularly to attend school. Further, the printer is an active member of a small, rather tight group of businessmen in the community, into which Smith has recently been accepted.

About two weeks after Smith delivers the screen-printed shirts to his client, he observes a number of individuals in town wearing shirts very similar to those he has just delivered to his client. When he goes to the printer's shop, Smith discovers many shirts hanging on racks, printed with his copyrighted design.

Based on the scenario and your research, answer the following questions:

• What should Smith do? Can copyright laws help him in any way?
• Consider his role in the small business community and his relationship with the printer. What are the initial steps Smith should take?

Part 2

The Internet provides several options for domain name registration and web hosting.

Complete the following discussions:

• With so many choices, how do you decide on what is best for you?
• Search web hosting companies and choose three companies.
  • Compare the prices and features they offer.

Note: You should never have to complete a form or provide personal information to find out the details of the hosting options for a company. If the website requests this type of information from you, skip it and choose another option.

Answer the following questions related to the three chosen web hosting companies:

• What languages are supported by the host?
• Are e-mail addresses provided? If so, how many?
• How much storage space is provided?
• How much bandwidth (usage) is provided?

Which of these hosting websites will you use for your course project? What influenced your decision?

Additionally, complete the following discussion:

Web updating is another important component of web design and development. Once your website is live on a host, you need to consider how often it will be updated and what features will be updated.

• What are the advantages and disadvantages of web updating?
• What would be your policy on content updates? What features would you update and how often would you perform an update? Provide a rationale.
• How does website maintenance differ from updating? What would your policy be for maintaining the website? How often would you have it checked for issues and errors? Explain your answer.