Hi theChronic, legal issues are a nightmare for web developers... if you don't know the law then you're gonna be bending over just waiting for a surprise from an industry competitor who does.
As you're in the USA and I'm in the UK we have slight differences, but only very slight.
On copyright: you need proof that your content is yours. keep a record of your design in some way that enables u to say "I had this at this time". In the UK we have no official copyright registration system, so the government recommends sending ourselves a special delivery of our material and leaving it unopened, or alternatively leave ur screenshots/code with ur bank or lawyer. In USA I believe u have an official registration system of federal copyright protection (
purchasable here).
Whether or not you choose to make/purchase time-provable records in any way, u still need the basic statement (eg Copyright Chronic Fitness. All rights reserved.) to tell people that ur work should not be copied by them.
Anyway, just to put ur mind at ease with copyrights, ur more likely to get sued under the Disability Discrimination Act or similar over web accessibility
