Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

Hey, I have come across my work that someone stole and added to their site without crediting me!  And worse, it comes up before my own on Google!  Can anyone give me advice on how I can go about getting this removed?

The first thing is to determine if your work is indeed copyright protected.. then you may have legal recourse. Do you have a notice on your site that this specific work/content is copyrighted?

You could simply email/contact the offending party and ask that they remove the content ro give you credit for it.

If they do not, some sort of cease and desist letter should be sent, however, this assumes that the content is indeed protected.

~Roland

From Wikipedia:

"In all countries that are members of the Berne Convention copyright is automatic, and need not be obtained through official registration with any government office. Once an idea has been reduced to tangible form, for example by securing it in a fixed medium (such as a drawing, sheet music, photograph, a videotape, or a computer file), the copyright holder is entitled to enforce his or her exclusive rights. However, while registration isn't needed to exercise copyright, in jurisdictions where the laws provide for registration, it serves as prima facie evidence of a valid copyright. The original copyright owner of the copyright may be the employer of the author rather than the author himself, if the work is a 'work for hire'."

So, first, send them an email telling them you're the rightful owner and to please remove it. If you don't hear back and it's still there after a week, contact them again a bit more forcefully. Tell them you know who they are (whois the domain for ownership info) and you're not going to drop it, even if you have to contact an attorney. That should do it. And if it doesn't, contact an attorney.

I have had a similar problem where a startup competitor lifted our content from our website word for word and then had the audacity to use the same fonts and similar business name.

We were only alerted to this fact when customers started complaining about poor service when in fact they were on another website.

I would suggest sending a letter as sometimes web users use share tools and inadvertently post copyright material. If they are not based near you they might just ignore you.

Having copyright notice on your website is essential.

You can fight for you rights only if you are truely the owner of the material and have proof. I ended up with the same problem when my blogs and contents looted and posted in another website even after I have the copyscape copyright sign in my website.

I came across this site and immediately contact the owner to take down my content. He obediently taken it down. It is that simple. So you can try sending email and see what happens. If they come against you, you can warn them saying the legal copyright laws can make things worse for you. Also I also been on the other side of the fence. Gettyimages.com sent my client infringement letter about the images which we used 5 years ago. It was free at that time and we used it but now they go against anybody who use those images and charge them hefty fees. Myself and client endup sharing the fees and took down the images. So there are easy ways to sue the party if they don't obey for you initial request.

ALl the best.

Vijai

Contact the owner of the site.

Use whois information and contact information on the site if there is any.

Be firm and polite, at first.

Almost every time, they will work with you immediately.

As a side note, I started putting links IN my articles early in the article, back to the original site, so that if they were simply scraping my site, I would get the links back.

For example...

"Thank you for being a regular reader of 2020Unleashed.  Today's article is...."

The site I wrote the article for, my site, is the link that you see in the first line.   I might as well get some link juice and credit from people who are borrowing my hard work.

Have fun!

First off I agree with Mr2020, by adding a link back to your blog at least you might get some link juice.

If you don't have any luck emailing the  other site then contact Google and let them know. Archives will show that you had published the material first and they will be penalized by Google.  Or so I have heard.

What's up fellas? How is everyone doing.. .WOW... I see lots of new faces... What's up Vwebworld... I see you're still giving people advise... That's cool... I haven't been on Start Up Nation for almost a year and a half... But thought I come and check it out...

Well, lets get down to business.... Ok fella's here it is... Proving that you wrote the original content is very hard to prove since, it's on the web... By putting your own content on the web you are soley responsible for either trademarking, copywriting, and water marking your content if it involves images. Letters of deciete are only effective when you have your trademark or copyright documentation.

Also, there are two types of information on the web site...

1. Creative commons content - Stuff that you create on your own... You can basically add all your content to www.creativecommons.org it is free to use and it authenticates that you are the original writer of the content... By doing this, you can assure yourself that they will ask for permission.

2. Public Domain Content - Content that can be redistributed through the internet. Almost 60% of the people fall under this category... Whether you're an Accountant or masonry worker... there are certain jargons in your industry that can be used...

Let me give you an example; an Insurance company... Doesn't matter which company you go to, you will find the words liability, comprehensive, Insurance... No matter what order you put these words in or how you described it in your own words... It is what it is... Or a Lightbulb for that instance... Unless you can come up with a unique word that describes a light bulb, they you can fight it...

NOW... if another competitor uses your content, word for word? then I would first send a letter to him... forget the calling... you have to document everything, incase he doesn't abide your request...

It usually takes about 3 to 4 letters before a judge would even look at your case. Trust me on this one fellas....

Let me know what happens... and again... Just saying welcome to all the new people on SUN...

What's up fellas? How is everyone doing.. .WOW... I see lots of new faces... What's up Vwebworld... I see you're still giving people advise... That's cool... I haven't been on Start Up Nation for almost a year and a half... But thought I come and check it out...

Well, lets get down to business.... Ok fella's here it is... Proving that you wrote the original content is very hard to prove since, it's on the web... By putting your own content on the web you are soley responsible for either trademarking, copywriting, and water marking your content if it involves images. Letters of deciete are only effective when you have your trademark or copyright documentation.

Also, there are two types of information on the web site...

1. Creative commons content - Stuff that you create on your own... You can basically add all your content to www.creativecommons.org it is free to use and it authenticates that you are the original writer of the content... By doing this, you can assure yourself that they will ask for permission.

2. Public Domain Content - Content that can be redistributed through the internet. Almost 60% of the people fall under this category... Whether you're an Accountant or masonry worker... there are certain jargons in your industry that can be used...

Let me give you an example; an Insurance company... Doesn't matter which company you go to, you will find the words liability, comprehensive, Insurance... No matter what order you put these words in or how you described it in your own words... It is what it is... Or a Lightbulb for that instance... Unless you can come up with a unique word that describes a light bulb, they you can fight it...

NOW... if another competitor uses your content, word for word? then I would first send a letter to him... forget the calling... you have to document everything, incase he doesn't abide your request...

It usually takes about 3 to 4 letters before a judge would even look at your case. Trust me on this one fellas....

Let me know what happens... and again... Just saying welcome to all the new people on SUN...

Have you tried contacting that person about your stolen content. Try to convince him to remove from his side first. Otherwise you can flag hime or report him too.