First step in getting copied content taken down

worc · 31-08-2011 8:34pm #1

I've found a website that has copied two articles I've written from my own website. One article is 900 words and the other is 2,200. They have both been copied verbatim with images and everything.

In my copyright terms on my site (of which I have a specific page created for copyright information) I've made it clear that no content can be copied without written permission from me and they never came to me to ask permission.

My intention was to email them politely, saying I understand it's likely they didn't realise they were using content they were not permitted to use. I've read up on it and it seems to be that in reality there is actually no real way of proving you originally owned the content and that there is an arguement against any proof I can put forward.

Google cache - depending on last cache taken the dates of both sites could be the same.
Google analytics - my site will show people were viewing the page the article was on back in March (this site copied my stuff in July going by the creation date on their website) but the content isn't shown in google analytics so that's no proof either.
I wrote the article in word first so the date would show creation date - but change the clock on your computer and the creation date can be faked - plus the content in the word file could just be replaced so that doesn't hold up either.

I could go on, but in reality it seems I'm basically in the hands of the webmasters' willingness to take down the content and if they refuse I'm screwed.

They are in US so I know I could issue a DMCA but I've whois' them and I think their doing their own hosting.

Would anyone agree I'm basically at the mercy of this person agreeing to take the articles down and if they don't, I have no way of enforcing it?

Trojan · 31-08-2011 10:55pm

There are services you can use to DMCA sites, you could go through one of those.

Ensure that articles you write etc have a full link to your site embedded so that future stuff that's stolen is at least of some SEO benefit, as well as giving search engines an idea of where it originated.

tricky D · 01-09-2011 12:27pm

worc wrote: »

I wrote the article in word first so the date would show creation date - but change the clock on your computer and the creation date can be faked - plus the content in the word file could just be replaced so that doesn't hold up either.

In an Irish court, making an attestation about the creation date usually suffices. Ie. you say it was created on such date and that is believed without going into any forensic type detail.

If this was in Ireland, my advice would be simple - invoice them, and invoice hard as it'swithout permission, leaving the article in place with proper accreditation and a link back. As the perp is in the US it's not so straight forward.

Also: http://www.whoishostingthis.com/ if you don't already have it.

Trojan · 01-09-2011 2:36pm

tricky D wrote: »

Also: http://www.whoishostingthis.com/ if you don't already have it.

Check the whois too, quite often whoishostingthis will return an upstream provider.

HairMonster · 01-09-2011 7:19pm

worc wrote: »

Would anyone agree I'm basically at the mercy of this person agreeing to take the articles down and if they don't, I have no way of enforcing it?

No, you still have your legal rights. You are the owner of the original articles, and as your intellectual property the content & images are protected under copyright laws. It is the exclusive legal right of the copyright owner to exploit their own work and to prevent others from doing so without permission. By using your articles on their website without your expressed permission, they have infringed your exclusive rights.

Try DMCA.com http://www.dmca.com/
They will accept your takedown request regardless of where in the world you are or the copyrighted content is. Scroll down this page to the "common questions" for more info: http://www.dmca.com/Takedowns.aspx

The involvement of a professional service who know what they are talking about might scare them into taking it down. It might even be enough to threaten them with it first. They know they were in the wrong and it is much more difficult for them to prove otherwise. But if you do contact them yourself , don't be too polite! I don't mean to be rude of course, but you must sound confident and give no doubt that you know what you are talking about and will take it further. Also, give them a date by which it much be removed or you will take it further, that way it won't drag on.

Good luck! There is too much of this going on and it really is pathetic!

worc · 04-09-2011 11:22pm

Cheers for the advice guys - I've gone with sending an email to the site owner setting out how they have breached my copyright and that they have 5 days to remove the content otherwise I will issue a DMCA. I've kept it to the facts and it's strongly worded but not threatening or anything so will see what happens.

I've already issued a Google DMCA to have their pages removed from the SERPS. I think I've figured out the site is being hosted by the people who designed the site for them so will have that if I'm going the DMCA route.

10-09-2011 11:54pm

Good luck & let us know how you get on.

worc · 11-09-2011 10:15am

p wrote: »

Good luck & let us know how you get on.

So far Google has removed the content from the SERPS (only took 2 days to get that done) which I did through this: Google DMCA

It's been 6 days and I have heard nothing back from the site owner - their website is strange as the same business has 2 sites (e.g. website.com and website.net) with both sites being completely different but they are for the same business and same people's photos on them - it's a bit odd.

Update: just checked the offending website and the 2 articles have been removed from their website - sweet!

worc · 11-09-2011 10:36am

I’m not going to paste the exact email her but to give an overview of its content in case someone else might be putting one of these emails together I've given the outline of the email below.

Also, it’s possible the Google DMCA helped because they would have been contacted by Google about that (from my reading on it) so that might have given them the kick up the **** they needed to realise this was for real. If you're going that route be 100% sure the content is yours otherwise you could be counter sued - Google gives an example why: "In one case involving online content, a company paid more than $100,000 in costs and legal fees after targeting content protected by the US fair-use doctrine."

The email went something like this:

1. Said I was emailing in relation to the use of copyright material from worcswebsite.com on their website stolenwebsite.com and that I was the owner of worcswebsite.com
2. Gave them the headings of the two articles they had copied and that I had not given permission for their use.
3. Linked to the two offending articles on their site giving the full url and then linked to my two articles again giving the full url.
4. I referred them to my copyright page (with link) and quoted the copyright policy on no copying of content.
5. Summed up that their use of these articles was in breach of my copyright terms and that this was illegal; that use of copyrighted content would require a DMCA taken notice down being issued to have the content removed if they did not do it themselves.
6. Said I realise this may have been an error on their part and that they were not aware that the use of the material was breaching copyright; but that, while I appreciate the possible error, they must remove content within 5 days or I would issue a DMCA to their host to have the content removed.

visual · 20-09-2011 5:48am

copyright is a difficult thing to prove

the easiest and cheapest way is to print it out and post it to yourself using registered letter you don't open. this proves its your work on that date.

sticking copyright on your site isn't going to deter someone from right clicking ...

Hope you get it resolved !

MrPicante · 25-09-2011 8:00pm

As a mater of interest, did this have a detremental effect on your SEO? Hope it gets sorted

worc · 25-09-2011 9:52pm

MrPicante wrote: »

Hope it gets sorted

Oh it's all sorted now cheers

- content taken down by the other site and Google removed the pages from their SERPS.

MrPicante wrote: »

As a mater of interest, did this have a detremental effect on your SEO?

Not from what I can see - in fact I was thinking it might have improved the sites standings in the SERPs - especially when a DMCA was issued. That probably sounds backwards, but I would be surprised if Google's algorithm can't tell which site had the content first so if others are copying it like that it must be decent content - and Google likes decent content. With the DMCA not being challanged and the content being taken down it's clear my site was the original.

Before it's said though I know there are examples of scrapper sites ranking higher than the originals.

I've had a 44% increase in traffic to the site from google SERPs recently. In that time no other factor changed on the site (no new content, no increase in social media shares, no increase in traffic from sites linking in etc.).

Maybe just coincidence.

Talisman · 26-09-2011 12:44pm

You should consider investing in a service such as Copyscape if your content is of value to you.

worc · 26-09-2011 10:12pm

Talisman wrote: »

You should consider investing in a service such as Copyscape if your content is of value to you.

Yeah I used to use that on and off but even when I found the copied content copyscape hadn't detected it.

I tracked down the copied content using the search term "mywebsite.com -site:mywebsite.com".

Cheers for the advice all the same.

First step in getting copied content taken down

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