Imitation may be the sincerest form of flattery, but it is also the most destructive, at least when it comes to online content. When other websites steal (i.e. republish without permission) content from your blog, you are hurt in several ways:
- Your content becomes duplicate content in the SERPs. While search engines try to determine which copy was the original (yours!), they aren’t always accurate, and your content could be ranked lower or even de-indexed.
- Other sites deliver and profit from the content you should get credit for.
- Your brand is diluted. When other sites publish your content, your site no longer has the advantage of being the only source internet users can get the great content you produce.
Yes, it IS illegal!
Many people try to claim that copying your content is not illegal because they are not using it for profit, or because your content did not have a sufficient copyright notice on it. Don’t believe them for a minute. Here are the facts:
- In the USA (and most countries), original content is copyrighted the instant it is published in any medium, whether it has a copyright notice or not. Point them to this answer on copyright.gov to see for themselves.
- Copyright infringement is still infringement, even if no money is made from it. Under fair use laws, certain exceptions are made, but these usually apply to referencing or quoting a small portion of a work for “criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research”. Copying an entire article or blog post for republication with or without credit is NOT fair use.
Note about copyright registration: Your work is copyrighted whether you register it or not. However, you will need to register your copyright before you could take legal action to defend or protect it.
How to stop content thieves
There are a few very effective methods you can use to discourage, stop, and prosecute people who are stealing your blog content.
Place a copyright statement prominently on your blog. This will discourage many people from stealing your content in the first place. A copyscape badge can also help.
Use copysentry to detect websites that have published your content.
Email the site owner. Send a polite email informing them that they have published your content, which is copyrighted, and ask them to remove it.
Send the site owner a DMCA cease and desist letter. This formal letter is sent via registered mail and will communicate that you mean business. Here are some examples.
Send the site’s webhost a DMCA letter. Webhosts are required by law to take action when they are notified that a site they host is violating a copyright. Each webhost has it’s own procedure to file a DMCA complaint (see Yahoo’s), but most work about the same. Once they get your complaint, they will give the site owner 3 options: Remove the offending content, file a counter-notice (i.e. claiming that they own the content), or the website will delete their site. Since you own the content, very few site owners will have the nerve to file a counter claim saying they own it, so this method is usually very effective.
Initiate legal proceedings. In the rare instance that none of the above steps resolved the issue, you can contact a lawyer and file a lawsuit. You may be able to sue to not only force them to remove the content, but also to pay restitution to you.
and yet many content stealers still won't care. I have my fair share of experience from being copied at. One blog scrapped old posts in my archive and published it as his own. The moment I discovered it, I immediately sent a letter. It was a polite one but I made it clear how dissapointed I was. To my surprise, it worked. The blogger apologized and removed the stolen content. that's when i realized playing the guilt trip works best for them.
Yeah. It's kinda hurt to see your content been published somewhere without your permission. And I prefer to notice the webhost about the matter. It seems so effective!
I've found over the years that the effort spent to track something often isn't worth it. For instance, in the good ol' days of the internet when web developers charged by the page or by the link or by number of products or by bandwidth for hosting… How much infrastructure had to be put in place to track all of that? It was never worth it to me. I'm a big believer of not holding on too tight or worrying too much about it and giving away free information and providing more value.
Much like Leo Babauta of ZenHabits.net who's recently removed the copyright from all the written material in his blog, I've done the same thing. I've chosen to not try too hard to protect and track everything. My only request is to have a credit, but if not, that's ok too.
I'd rather not pay a lawyer for cease and desist letters. After all, it's all about the conversation and anything I write about is only my opinion.
If you use WordPress, there are a few plugins that disable right-click and highlighting. While there are other ways to save a particular picture or copy a whole bunch of text on one’s blog, it will take the “thief” a few extra clicks to do it, so hopefully the “thief” will be deterred?
I totally agree with you Adam. It is really annoying if someone steals your blog. Thanks for sharing the method.
Thanks for sharing, sometimes I also use other web content for my blog. I hope to stop do it.
Great information and a much needed post. Thanks.
Thanks for this practical post. As an author and book publishing coach/consultant, I am very concerned about protecting content, and have myself written about it on my Your Book Publishing Coach blog. People who are not concerned probably don't attempt to make their living through information. For those of us who do, this is a big concern.
Adam,
Thanks for the tip. I'm sure most new bloggers don't spend enough time protecting themselves and your ideas are very practical.
This is even more important for authors who are trying to build an author platform by releasing unpublished material on their blogs in the hopes of building interest and readership for when their book is published. As a publisher services blog, I intend to highlight this issue for my readers.