Is Your Content Copyright?

received this from email...




In the last email I showed you how to use DupeFree Pro and
CopyScape to find potential unauthorised copies of your content.

Not only is plagiarism illegal but it causes duplicates of your
content which may harm your Search Engine rankings.

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Is Your Content Properly Protected?
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First, let me just say that I am *not* an expert on copyright law
or any other sort of law. So please don't consider any of this to
be legal advice.

However, I have done some extensive research on copyright and these
are my findings...

Note: These points are in relation to US copyright laws, but are
still relevant even if you don't live in the US.

** Basically anything you publish in any form is technically
protected by a copyright. If you write an eBook, create a software
product, write original website content, you own the copyright.

** If you hire a writer to write something for you then as long as
it was part of the agreement only you will own the copyright.

** There is one exception to the prohibition against reusing the
work of others on the Web which is reposting small excerpts of
another website when offering comments or criticism.

** One fallacy is that unless a Web site or page is accompanied by
a copyright symbol (the "c" within a circle © ), it doesn't have
copyright protection. In fact your work is copyright to you by
default, however...

** According to one website you can only take legal action against
copyright infringement if your copyright notice contains the
copyright symbol ( © ). The special html code for the copyright
symbol is: ©

** Technically speaking if someone copies something copyright to
you then you can take legal action against them. However, if you do
take legal action you need proof you are the original author. This
can be achieved through registering your copyrighted work by
filling out a form and sending it to the US copyright office
together with your material and a small fee. However, even if you
don't register for copyright, you do still own copyright to your
work.

These are some very handy points on copyright law. A lot were news
to me! I hope you find them useful too.

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So What Can You Do If You've Been Plagiarised?
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Now we know where we stand with copyright, what action should we
take if the time comes...

After some thorough research I discovered these steps you can take
against someone plagiarising your copyrighted work:

1) - If you discover another site plagiarizing yours, first collect
all evidence to support your case.

2) - Next, find the owner of the site. Most sites include contact
information. If not, do a WhoIs search - type "whois" into Google
to find WhoIs directories.

3) - Then send a firm, but non-belligerent, cease-and-desist e-mail.

4) - If that doesn't work, have your lawyer send a cease-and-desist
letter to the person AND to the person's Web host.

5) - And if that doesn't work, consider having your lawyer file
suit.

Also I've read in multiple places that going straight to the
infringing person's webhost can be the best and only solution that
provides results. It does depend on the webhost but they tend to
take these matters very seriously and can disable the person's
account in an instant. You'll need ample evidence however.

You can find more information on plagiarism and copyright at the
Plagiarism Today website:

http://www.plagiarismtoday.com

Here's a link to a sample cease-and-desist letter:

http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/contract/cease.htm


I hope the above tips have been useful to you but more than that I
hope you don't need to use them. Plagiarism disputes are ugly and
can get messy. Above all else it's important to act calmly and
professionally.

Whilst this topic might seem slightly off-topic to DupeFree Pro I
feel it is actually very relevant due to the potential duplicate
content issues plagiarism can cause you.

Talk to you soon,
DupeFree Pro


source:
http://www.dupefreepro.com/
http://www.plagiarismtoday.com