Preface: In my opinion, web copy falls into one of three categories:
- Owned
- Stolen
- Used “Fairly“
A client of mine has content blatantly stolen off her site on a somewhat frequent basis. Her competition highlights every word on a particular page, then copies and pastes directly into a new web page and calls the work their own.
And believe me, the copy in question has never fallen under the “Fair Use” category.
Not only is stolen content frustrating to my client, it’s frustrating to me as well, because I created some of the work that’s been stolen. And while it’s flattering to think that someone admires our work that much, I’d prefer they send a nice note to let me know instead of breaking the law and violating my client’s rights.
As well, search engines can “penalize” sites with duplicate content, making your search engine marketing efforts much more difficult - and expensive.
The DMCA, or Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects us from unauthorized use of our copyrighted material. For the sake of this post, I’m going to focus on web content and how owners of copyrighted web content are protected under the DMCA.
Web content falls under the Federal Government’s definition of a “work,” and according to the U.S. Copyright Office:
“A work is “created” when it is fixed in a copy or phonorecord for the first time; where a work is prepared over a period of time, the portion of it that has been fixed at any particular time constitutes the work as of that time, and where the work has been prepared in different versions, each version constitutes a separate work.”
This definition covers versions of your work so that if, for example, I publish this post as completed up to this point here ->x, the portion I publish is considered a ‘work’. If I were to add to the published ‘work’ and post the new version on another blog, both versions are equally protected under copyright law.
So what do you do when you find that someone has possibly stolen your web content and posts it as their own? Well, after you settle down from the initial shock, you have a number of options. And, depending on the circumstances, you may want to weigh your options to determine what’s best for you.
But first of all before you do anything, take a screen shot of the content in question as it appears on the alleged infringer’s site, and be sure the majority (if not all) of the content and the web address are visible in the screen shot. This could be important evidence in the future, and it only take a second.
The first option is to send a firm, yet fairly-worded cease and desist-style letter or email to the alleged infringer. It may sound odd, but some people just don’t know that copying content from a site and using it elsewhere without permission is in most cases against the law. Some see it as a victimless crime, others see it as a harmless solution to their need for good content on their site. Regardless, in the letter you should:
- Tell the alleged infringer who you are
- Say what company and website(s) you represent
- Tell them that material you own the copyright to appears on their site (don’t flat out say they stole it…they may get defensive and not respond at all)
- Note the location/URL of the content on your site
- Note the location/URL of the content on their site
Then, write a paragraph that alerts the alleged infringer to the fact that they never asked for or received permission to use the material and that they have infringed upon your rights under 17 U.S.C. Section 101 et seq. Also mention that damages as high as $250,000 could be awarded to you.
Give them a deadline, and note that if the material isn’t removed by the deadline that you will file a Notice of Digital Millennium Copyright Act Infringement with Google and all other major search engines.
NOTE: Filing the DMCA infringement notice will each search engine will most likely get the infringer’s website banned from search results. You may want to mention this as well.
Finally, educate them a little more about the DMCA by suggesting this link: http://www.google.com/dmca.html.
Usually, taking the approach I’ve laid out here gets you a response at the very least. Some people act stupid, while some people, like I said, just don’t know about the law. In most cases, the alleged infringer will promise to take down the content at this point. Maybe they apologize, maybe they don’t. But either way, keep checking the infringer’s site to be sure your content has been removed or if your rights are still being violated.
If you need help writing a simple email that’s firm, yet friendly, don’t hire a lawyer to write a cease and desist letter. They’ll charge you and arm and a leg. In Part II, I’ll give you a sample letter that will produce results. I’ve seen enough cease and desist letters to write one that will work in most cases.
Next up…if your letter doesn’t produce the results you wanted, you have to follow through on your threats - which just happens to be easy and free.
