Content Theft

What is the best thing to do about content theft ? I have found my content on another site and even worse is the site is outranking me in google and also using my images which are hosted on my server.

Where do I report this to google and is it likely they will drop the other site.

I might take a picture of my bum and upload it to the server in place of the images he is using

what works is to:

1. make a copy of the image but change the name.
2. change the page / pages that the image appears on to point to the new image name.
3. make a banner that advertises your site and name it the old image name.
4. replace the old image with the new banner.

This way they will be displaying your big banner on their site.
It will quickly come down but they also get the message.

if your not hot linking your own images you can disable it with the htaccess file as well.

You can report to the google in smap report.
you can contact the server on which site is hosted and tell them that you have copyright for that content

One of the best way to prevent content theft is to stay away from Article Submission Sites. File DMCA: google.com/dmca.html. Also try to contact the advertsiers of the spammer and tell them that the whole website is a hijacked one. Cut the spammer revenues. Bring him down to his knees. Image hotlinking and theft issue can be solved through mod_rewrite and 'noimageindex' meta robots tag.

Before you take the advice of any of the above... what do you wish to achieve here?

Many times you want to ring someone's neck but doing most anything that provides an ounce of satisfaction can also bring with it a ton of grief.

Devil's advocate: Anyone with a well ranked domain [better ranked than you] can create a far better and more visable negative campaign than you can, for alot less and hurt you alot more where it counts revenue/business .

Even on the immediate issue of copyright infringement - if you haven't registered your copy - you have no copyright right... you can pretend all you want "but the law only protects those that follow the specifications of the law"... so before you decide to do anything... register the copy first.

Don't play with fire unless you're quite prepared to be burnt... even when you're right... fire doesn't take sides.

"Registration of copyrights is not mandatory in order to obtain copyright protection. However, for works that originate in the United States and certain other works, a party must have registered the work before the party can commence an action for infringement."

source: ivanhoffman.com/reg.html


However registering the copy is recommended.

You need to be careful how you word your response and what sources you imply are valid.. The only difference there is in the US and the general "rest of world" you don't need to prove ownership of copy in the US... your registration certificate number does that...

When you imply "Registration of copyrights is not mandatory in order to obtain copyright protection" elsewhere in the world isn't really the issue... the question of authoring isn't as simply as "I wrote it, it must be mine"... particularly in the digital age where the original manuscript tends to be on a computer somewhere - where I can make my timestamp any time I want ... you're saying in the rest of the world you don't need to worry about proving the copy is yours (and you most certainly do)... before proving someone is infringing on your rights.

In the US they have made copyright ownership irrefutable... elsewhere you can go to court (remembering that "protection" implies legal proceedings and have an open & shut case and still lose because the burden of proof isn't someone stole something... "do you actually own it"?

Fathom wrote an excellent post on how to deal with duplicate content. A must read for you Glenn:

http://forums.seochat.com/showpost.php?p=512111

Though it was directed to me by fathom, but I believe it's some kind of universal truth which everyone should know and it almost helps everyone..

Do it give it a solid read!

Thats full thread for ya:

http://forums.seochat.com/google-optimization-7/website-copyright-infringement-and-dmca-procedures-162778-2.html?pp=15

Should be made a sticky!!

I thought it worth noting here that everyone should register any online copy they find worthy of noting as "content thief" with the US Copyright Office regardless of whether or not you are a US Citizen or your online ventures operate in the US... or the violation occurs elsewhere... as one would say, this is "circumstantial proof" of ownership regardless of whether any courts in a different country would note it as irrefutable proof of copyright... it sure beats what:

1. "I posted my version online on July 14 2008, and theirs didn't appear until July 21, 2008.
2. "Archive.org shows our version was available in 2005 and their wasn't until 2006
3. ...or whatever else you can pull out of your sleeve

For the sake of $35 USD... it's worth the coin.

If this step isn't important to you or you deem too costly or too labor intentive... forget your potential copyright... because you are playing with fire.