How do you know if your web site content is being used without your permission?
The first way to discover copyright infringement is by word of mouth from others. Hopefully they will inform you if they have seen or suspect your content is being used by someone else. You can then investigate further to be sure before you go any further.
However, if you want to check yourself, try plugging in some of your unique web site content into the search field of Google. Be sure to use quotation marks around the text and don’t make the search too long. Use one sentence or part of a sentence because those who do use other’s content sometimes change a little of the wording to suit their needs. Of course, there are those that have copied information word for word.
If you have unique graphics on your web site and want to find out if anyone else is using them, enter the file name of your graphic into http://images.google.com.
What are the downfalls of having your content on too many sites?
Not only does it tick you off when someone else uses your web site content, but it can also be damaging to both parties’ standings in search engines. Search engines take a dim view of content that is used in numerous web sites. They can consider it spamming so they tend to drop the placement of such web sites or completely eliminate them from the search engine.
Your reputation can also be damaged if the duplicate material is spotted on more than one web site. Although you know that the web site content is yours, others that see it do not.
What should you do when you find out your material has been the victim of copyright infringement?
This is usually a personal choice but no matter what you do, remember to project your professionalism and not let the culprit get the better of you.
The first thing you need to do is to investigate as deeply as possible and keep records of what you find. Keep a record of which pages you found your web site content on and take a screenshot or print the page, if possible. You may want to consider printing the HTML code as well. Call upon the trust of others and ask them to take a look at the offending pages and how it is a duplicate of yours and see if they agree with your perception of the situation.
Also, check throughout the web site to be sure that there isn’t a reference somewhere about where the owner used the material from.
Then you need to find the owner of the site. Most web sites will have a contact page or will have contact information at the bottom of each page. Record this information for future reference as this will be the person you will contact to try and rectify the situation.
You can also find out who owns the web site by searching a WhoIs directory. All WhoIs search functions pull their information from a main database of all domain registrations. If you simply type ‘whois’ into Google’s search engine, you will find a list of various WhoIs directories that you can try. Each will pull up the administrative and technical contact for the domain in question. The administrative contact is usually the owner of the web site. Again, record this information, including the date the domain was registered.
Be sure you can prove that your web site content is original and that you have owned it for a longer period of time than the timeframe that the offending web site has been using it. You need to have undisputed evidence that the material is yours. If you visit http://www.archive.org, you can input your web site address and see the evolution of your site over many years and thus prove you have been the owner of material in question and the time period since you produced it.
Once you have the contact information, it is then recommended that you send a professional ‘cease & desist’ email to the owner. Be stern yet polite and point out where the copyright infringement can be found on their web site and how it duplicates your content. As mentioned above, show that you can prove ownership. Ask the culprit to remove your content and point out how duplicates on various web sites can hurt your overall standing in search engines, not to mention everyone’s reputation.
From my own personal experience, the above will generally work and the offending site owner will apologize for the unintentional (usually) plagiarism of your information. Most really didn’t mean to blatantly steal your content.
But what if this doesn't work? Janice Byer presents more ways to deal with web site content theft on the next page of this article...
