What To Do If You Find Someone Stealing Your Content
Hi, Everyone...
Just a quick post that came about as a result of one of our members (Patsy) who found some content used from her website without her permission (this is not ok!)...
In commenting on the post she published here, I did some research on a few lawyer websites and prepared a short synopsis of steps to take.
Patsy suggested that I make a post so all members would have access to the steps to take (I had mentioned that I hoped all would have access), so...
Here are the steps (in general)...
STEPS TO TAKE WHEN YOU FIND SOMEONE PLAGIARIZING/STEALING YOUR CONTENT
Gather Information
(1) Get the email address and website url for the offending site if it is available, otherwise, you could do a WHOIS search for the owner of the site and can get their contact information.
(2) You can also find the host of the website, which might be helpful....You could contact them and explain that the website they are providing hosting for is copying content (save this for later though)...
(3) If there WAS a question on who is plagiarizing from who, you can use the 'Way Back Machine' to find past views of your site — this will prove your site, and the content in question on your website, has been online longer.
(4) You can also get a link to the Google Cache that will show that the Google Spiders discovered your content earlier than the other site.
(5) You can take some screenshots of the copied material on the offending site and even save the source code if needed (i.e. they copied your whole site).
You want to have as much evidence as possible to back up your claim. Comments with dates might be useful, MySQL records, images with dates, and even site backups, etc.
Next Action: Make contact with the owner of the site having the copied material
Note: This is a multi-step process. It starts easy and gets more complex with ever more serious consequences for the offender...
(1) Make initial contact. This can be a polite email requesting that the copied content and images be removed within a time frame you determine (as in immediately, within 72 hours, etc.).
(2) No reaction/response? The next step is to send a Cease and Desist order (free templates available online). Normally they will reply and fix by this point. If not, the next step is...
(3) Notify the Hosting Service. Contact the hosts of the website and explain that you have found copied material on one of the websites they are providing hosting to...
- Add in all the data you have collected when you contact them...
- Hosting companies do not want copied content through their operation, and will likely suspend the website until the problem is resolved.
(4) Notify The Search Engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo). Lastly, you can file a DMCA complaint with Google and also with the other search engines telling them of the problem and asking them to delist that site from their search indexes because it is violating copyright laws. You can also do a search to make sure that all pertinent details are included in your complaint/request.
Bottom Line: All this is a real pain, and it is a shame you have to go through this...But when you find someone stealing from you, at least you know how to fix it without an expensive lawyer getting involved. I hope this short post helps if you ever need it...
Comments...If anyone has any more insight on steps, it would be nice to add them in the comments below, so we all have a place to come to for answers if we should ever need it...
I believe in ALL of you!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Recent Comments
90
Good evening Dave,
This is good information and I hope I will never need it.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Hi, Taetske...Nice to see you and this will be hanging around if we ever need it...Spain is a busy place these days - lots happening...Stay safe...Cheers! Dave : )
Good Morning Dave,
I really hope Spain stays united. I think that Catalonia cannot foresee all the trouble which will come forth from separating, more than 1.500 companies have left already and that is only the beginning. There will be elections just before Christmas.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thanks for sharing this Dave as this is an area we all need to be aware of how to deal with relating to our sites. I’m bookmarking for reference.
I really want to share this kind of information as it may help someone today, tomorrow, or a year from now...I have bookmarked as well (just so I can get here faster if I need to)...Cheers! Dave : )
Excellent information, Dave. It's important to have this and hopefully never need it. Also, I believe our own SiteContent checks for original content before publishing. Someone had mentioned Grammarly premium does this as well.
Thanks for sharing this.
Sue
Hi there, Sue! No issue sharing, The Grammarly upgrade is something I did not know about, Brad too brought this up...I may invest in the upgraded version, I have some team members writing a lot, and it would ease my mind a bit...Cheers! Dave : )
Great stuff Dave!
This is good information to know.
I ended up buying Grammarly premium and it tells you if you are stealing or unknowingly plagiarising.
I reckon' it has happened to me where I have started writing off the top of my head and Grammarly will pick me up if it is written on another website. This can happen in one line sentences so if people do not have Grammarly premium plagiarism will unknowingly go on. BUT when it becomes paragraphs then you know that someone has deliberately copied and pasted your work.
Best thing to do in my opinion is to email them and tell them they have copied and pasted your content without permission and to kindly remove the content from their website immediately.
That seems like a very good solution to me and 99% of the time that will take care of the problem..Thanks for sharing (I did not know that Grammarly checks for this, good info)! Cheers! Dave : )
Yes, the premium version.
I even redid one of my posts and renamed it. I copied and pasted most of my content and when I checked in Grammarly paragraphs and paragraphs were deemed plagiarism.
The beauty about Grammarly it will tell you the website you're stealing off.
In this case, it was my own website so I didn't have to worry.
In the Grammarly premium, you have to turn on the plagiarism button. It doesn't automatically go on when you open a new document in Grammarly.
Sorry CORRECTION
I even redid one of my posts and renamed it. I copied and pasted my content and when I checked in Grammarly my paragraphs were deemed plagiarism.
It's the icon button on the left-hand side when you open a new doco. It looks like a magnifying glass.
Nice step by step process Dave. Was there a particular event that inspired this article?
Yes, Patsy posted today about finding someone that had copies some of her images and who had changed the wording and given her attribution but did not have permission to use either the images or anything...She has a solution ready, I just added a bit to it...Cheers! Dave : )
Yes, I think this information something we all need to know but hopefully will never have to use...Cheers! Dave : )
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Good information, Thanks
You are more than welcome, James...Cheers! Dave : )