Recently, a friend of mine had a problem. One of his best posts was copied and the copy of his post (on the copier’s site) was ranked better on Google. The infringer did not link to the original post, but he posted an exact copy of the same post without any attribution. He asked me what to do, and I said him to email the infringer politely. And it worked! The content was removed in 6 hours!
What if the infringer doesn’t take action with just an email? Of course DCMA is an option, but how to file an official complaint? How do we format the emails to be sent to the infringer or DCMA?
All these questions are answered on a guest post by Gary on ProBlogger. Gary explains in simple terms, how to claim your copyright (in his own way!). And I seriously support his method; because it gives the infringer one chance to remove your post. If he doesn’t do that, Gary goes to the Web Host and files a DCMA take-down notice.
If you ask a lawyer that will say this step is pointless and you should always start with a DMCA takedown notice addressed to the copyright infringer’s webhost. I think starting with the big guns is a bit too much. My advice is to contact these people in a friendly(ish) manner. Let’s not forget that we’re humans and no one likes when it’s threatened. So put together a few lines in a way that it’s not so harsh, but neither too friendly
– Gary speaks @ ProBlogger
Gary also shares some templates for the emails to be sent to the infringer and most importantly, a format for an official DCMA notice. This is very important because if you don’t do it the right way, your complaint will never be processed.
Read How to Defend Your Blog’s Copyright at ProBlogger and sue all those infringers!
Update: Here are some useful links on Google Help Center that you will find use if the infringer doesn’t take action.
- File a complaint and block the infringer’s Adsense Account permanently
- Report the Infringers page that appears on the Google Search Result (and sucks away your traffic, this was the case with my friend)
- A Post on the Inside Adsense Google group that shows how Google respects your copyrights!
- Blogspot Bloggers can easily file a DCMA using this form. (via Labnol)
- A comprehensive Guide on reporting Spam Blogger and WordPress.com Blogs.
- A Success Story of how Syam Kumar claimed his copyright with lots of resources and reference links.
Make sure that you warn the infringer before you take him down. To forgive is divine!
I am a WordPress product developer and creator of Image Attributes Pro. I am passionate about solving problems and travelling the world.
Nice article thanks. I think that you remember the day i faced the same problem as your friend and you came to my rescue by telling me to send the copier a professional email message to remove the article. And that helped a lot.
This article will surely help many bloggers who don’t know what to do with content copiers.
Yep, I do remember. There was a time when I had never thought that an email could do the job. I was on blogger and as you might know, we dont really have right over the content on a blogspot blog. But email works like magic.
Cheers
Yes i almost forgot. Here is a website to check whether your site has been copied or not. It does this through rss feeds. I hope this will be a handy tool for bloggers.
http://www.fairshare.cc/fairshare/
I just signed up for fairshare, it looks cool. I am waiting for my weekly report to know how people copy my content.
Thanks for sharing 🙂
Nice post man!
Thanks I will check out all the links!
It will come handy when people start copying from you! Bookmark the links for future reference.
Thats why I prefer “Copy Content With Attribution Only” stuff … ! …
lol Even that text is copyrighted.. beware, i might take you down.. ha ha 😛
Oooh..!! .. 😀
I preferred the good.. fortunately I found it in your Blog ! 🙂
Update: Blogger Bloggers can easily file a DCMA complaint via a direct forum. Links are just added up. Bookmark it!
I think you meant DMCA.
Anyway, DMCA is only applicable in the US (and maybe the EU). If the creator and the infringer are not situated in the US, there is nothing that you can do about it.