Copyright Question

Well, I know a lot about copyright infringement and everything, but I have been thinking about this question for a while. I understand that if you have images, icons, ect. from other sites that have actual copyrighted material, then it's illegal. I also know that if you have images that came from other sites that propose icons, images, etc. for free, then users can come to your forum and rightfully take them since they are public.
Furthermore, what I want to know is that if you actually created images by yourself and have them on your forum, and then place the 'opyrighted' moto in a viewable area in your forum, is it illegal for users to just come by your forum and copy those icons even though you made them yourself; or do the images have to be legally copyrighted by a patent office? I really need this information because users come on my forum to snatch anything they can, and I can't fuss about it because I got most of the icons that those users snatched from public sites like http://iconarchive.com and other sites; and I want images made by me (or another user on the forum) to have these images on my forum and have them copyrighted (if anyway possible.) So basically, users can't just come up and snatch things anymore since I created the icons.

I'm not the user that is actually creating the icons for my forum, but a well-trusted administrator is, however.

For a real copyright patent you gotta go do the paper work...
I am part of a graphics artist trade union, I might say... and because of my membership I have the ideal copyright laws.

but this doesn't mean you are not protected.
In the world of the internet we have something called creative commons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative_Commons

now creative commons is like a copyright for individual people. It lets you reserve some rights. So for example if you place the CC (creative commons) logo anywhere near your site and mention that it protects your art , then you can officially inform any copier that if the content is not removed you have the right to take action.
Usually its best to target the webmaster, or service provider...
so on forumotion you'd report it here , and Typlo or someone will be doing the action part of things.

i hope that explains a bit

Why thank you, Jalo. But, do I need to join into any membership or pay anything?

Creative Commons is free, I think?

Okay, but do I need to like register with them or something?

Also, where is the CC icon found at? Thanks.

http://creativecommons.org/license/

^^
I think thats where you can register.

No rok ... creative commons ... is just there...
its like air ... you don't need to register to breathe air.
just get a nice icon




... or create your own... as long as it depicts the CC ...

Yeah, Xclipse showed me http://creativecommons.org and I found out how to create a license. Thanks guys; problem solved.