Outsmart Thieves of Your Content – Part 1

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Outsmart the Thieves

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“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”. Well, you might not be very flattered when you find parts of your book, a blog post you wrote or an image you took, on somebody’s website or book. What can do to prevent it?  And what can you do when this happens? Here is a brief overview, more details in part 2 of this series.

Copyright infringement can even be a source of income for you, if you charge the thieves  : )

Find out:

• How to find copyright infringements
• How to track down the perpetrator
• How to register your copyright
• Where to find a copyright lawyer
• How much can you charge
• How to document the theft
• How to use Google Cache and get Google to de-index
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How to find copyright infringements

This task can be done for free with the help of Copyscape.com, a program that searches for plagiarism online and identify content theft. Just type in the URL of your original content, and Copyscape shows you right away where your content can be found on the internet.
You can also pay Copyscape if you need even more advanced service.
You can also use Google Alerts to find your content on the Internet. Just type in your contents’ keywords. And get alerts via email.
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How to track down the perpetrator

Ever heard about the website inquiry “Who Is”, which shows you who owns or registered a website, for example the one from your contents thieve?  Use www.Godaddy.com and type in the domain name and click on “Who Is”, which will show you the registrant, technical and administrative support of the website. Books show name or pen name and the publisher, sometimes even the printer, layout-er or editor. Infringements on e-books can be reported to retailers, such as Amazon.
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How to document the theft:

• Make screen shots of the infringing site
• download the actual page so you have the source code
• make screen shots of your own website with the copyright information
• make a screen shot of the Google search results
• Was your image metadata on the infringing site removed:
• that’s a further offence, and you should screen shot it for evidence.

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How to use Google Cache and get Google to de-index

Google’s cache can be used in copyright lawsuits since it’s cache content can serve as a proof of a website’s old content.
Whole websites or individual URL’s may also be de-indexed by Google as per US DMCA requirement in case anybody complains about illegal stuff infringing on somebody else’s copyright.
More details about Google’s de-index and cache. Google offers a support site for “Removing Content”
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How to register your copyright

It is not required for an author to register your work or even provide a notice. But… there are reasons to protect yourself and what you created. Proving your claim can be a very difficult matter without proper evidence. If anyone steals your manuscript, you will not only have proof of copyright ownership, but you are also able to sue for Statutory Damages and attorney fees. Find addresses where you can register (also online) in a former blog post “What Every Writer Needs to Know About Copyright”

In the United States the fee is only $35 and you can register a whole bunch of articles or photos in one shot. you have 90 days from the moment of publishing to register your work in order to not only get Statutory Damages, but also to recover your lawyer (and court) fees.  An attorney is not at all necessary, to register your manuscript or photo.  You can register on-line (which is cheaper) or by snail mail. Copyright registrations become effective the day on which application and payment are received at the office

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Where to find a copyright lawyer

Even if you could send a “Copyright Infringement Cease & Desist/Demand Letter” yourself to the thieve of your content, why should you do it? Why waste your time? Get a copyright lawyer who does it for you and who follows up on the case or brings it to the courts. One law firm that is specialized in copyright law is Hoffman in NYC, but you will find them in almost every state. There are websites, such as Findlaw.com that sort them by cities too. Some lawyers will even work for you on a contingency agreement for a percentage of any settlement; as long as you have registered your writing or your image correctly.
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How much can you charge:

“What’s An Infringement Worth?”
Attorney Carolyn E. Wright who is specialist in copyright law has a an interesting graphic on her website that shows the average amount of damages the perpetrator has to pay:

• Actual Damages*
• Statutory Damages
• Ordinary Licence Fee
• Profits
• Fine
• Attorneys fees & costs

* US copyright laws allows punishment for removal or alteration of copyright information a substantial statutory damage – $2,500 – $25,000  – for each image or text.
Find out about Consequences of Copyright Infringement. Please see also a former blog post here about honest re-blogging that explains the difference between copy & paste (theft) and official re-blogging, where a link points to the original blog post.
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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/ Once you are on the website, click on Seminar to register.

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 810 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

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What Every Writer Needs to Know About Copyright

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Justitia Copyright

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It is not required for an author to register your work or even provide a notice. But… there are reasons to protect yourself and what you created.  Copyright means the sole right to produce or reproduce a work in any form. And in most countries, a work – such as literature, music or software – is automatically protected as soon as it is created. Excluded are ideas, titles, names, facts and short phrases.
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On the other side: proving your claim can be a very difficult matter without proper evidence. Often it boils down to a case of “their word against yours”. Without proper protection, work that you have created, could end up making money for someone else.
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Whenever you write something on paper or typed on a computer, it is copyrighted and protected under U.S. copyright law.  If someone steals your work and presents it as his own, the burden of proof falls on you to show that you created it first and that you own the copyright – which can be difficult.  For better protection, consider to officially register your work for approx. $45 per manuscript with the US Copyright Office.  So, if anyone steals your manuscript, you will not only have proof of copyright ownership, but  you are also able to sue for Statutory Damages and attorney fees.
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Claims in US Courts:

• If you have registered your work before infringement, you can collect Statutory Damages plus attorney fees.
• If you registered after infringement, but before filing suit, you can only sue for Actual Damages – which you have to demonstrate.
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Necessary Content of Copyright Notices in Your Book:

• The symbol © or the word “Copyright”
• The year of first publication of the work
• The name of the owner or creator
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Where to  Register?

Canada:
online to the Copyright Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office Web site
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca (fee Can $50)

USA:
online to the U.S. Copyright Office, via the Library of Congress
http://www.copyright.gov (fee US $ 35)

United Kingdom:
online UK Copyright Service
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk (online registration are £39.00 for 5 years or £64.00 for 10 years per work.)
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An attorney is not necessary at all, to register your manuscript. You can register on-line (which is cheaper) or by snail mail. Copyright registrations become effective the day on which application and payment are received at the office, but it may take months until you receive the certificate. 

Being on the Copyright Register also helps with finding you as the owner when permission to use a work is sought.  This can be very lucrative for the owner of registered copyright because they can easily be found to license their work and can charge fees/royalties for its use.  Even for succession planning it is very important to have copyright registered, as it provides the owner with an easily transferable and valuable asset.
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Check out this blog post, which gives lots of tips what to do in case copyright infringements happen.  The blogger talks about a photograph, that was unlawfully used, but for your blogs or books, the steps are the same:
http://www.jeremynicholl.com/blog/2011/06/13/the-10-rules-of-us-copyright-infringement/

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More regulatory sources for USA, Canada and the UK:
Copyright Portal
Canadian Guide to Copyright
UK Copyright Law

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are 780+ of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and to StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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Re-Blogging vs Copyright Infringement

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Re-blogging or Copyright Infringement

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Savvybookwriters.wordpress.com has had more than 275,000 readers as of last week and I am very grateful for over 1,100 subscribers and comments. The blog articles, tips and links I work on, often for hours or even days, such as this old one, but still THE most popular, got even copied and pasted into other peoples blogs – even so there is a RE-BLOGGING function on all WordPress sites.  It is easy to use: just click on it, write your own comment and have your subscribers get curated content – you save time and you don’t run into possible copyright problems.
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Re-blogging is considered legitimate sharing when the original source is obvious and available, linking to the original source, comparable to sharing on Facebook, where it includes the link and where only a small portion is shown. Readers can then follow the link to read the full article on the original post. WordPress’ re-blogging also includes an excerpt of the blog post, a link to the original blog post, and it encourages you to add your own comments or an introduction before the re-blogged post.
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Motto for re-blogging: “Why steal, when you can get it for free?”

WordPress writes: “You can like and re-blog posts directly from your reader, which displays a stream of all the updates published on all the blogs you follow from your WordPress.com account.
The RE-BLOG button is located in the toolbar that appears at the top of the screen when you’re logged into WordPress.com. Note that you’ll only see the like and re-blog options while you’re looking at individual posts.”
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Alice Elliott explains in her excellent blog post step for step how it works and shows all the details via computer screen shots. Have a look!

Marcy Kennedy wrote in her article about re-blogging etiquette: “If you’re being re-blogged, it’s an honor that someone found your content worthy of sharing with their followers, and it can extend your reach and bring people back to your site without the effort of guest posting. If you’re the re-blogger, it can sometimes be a lifesaver in terms of getting content up on your site when your week has fallen to pieces. Plus, you’re providing your readers a service through vetting material for them and bringing them the best.”

If done incorrectly, though, re-blogging flirts with the line of plagiarism.  Read more about copyright in other blog posts.

Copyright is a federal law of the United States (and most countries in the world) which protects original works of authorship. A work of authorship includes literary, written, dramatic, artistic, musical and certain other types of works.
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What happens if you violate someone’s copyright?
Most artists and photographers are too nice to sue, and will simply request that you remove the copied work. However, a copyright owner can sue for damages, as one website discovered. That website paid $4000 in damages for a $10 stock photo they had used without permission, even though they removed the photo promptly after receiving a take-down notice.
Read more what you can do if copyright infringement happens to your work in this fantastic post:
http://www.jeremynicholl.com/blog/2011/06/13/the-10-rules-of-us-copyright-infringement/
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More articles about this subject here on the blog:

Why Should you Register the Copyright of your Manuscript?

How Do You Deal With Copyright & Plagiarism?

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If you would like to get help in all things publishing, have your book heavily promoted and learn how to navigate social media sites: We offer all this and more for only a “token” of $1 / day for 3 months. Learn more about this individual book marketing help: http://www.111Publishing.com/seminar

Please feel free to check out all previous posts of this blog (there are more than 760 of them : ) if you haven’t already. Why not sign up to receive them regularly by email? Just click on “Follow” in the upper line on each page – and then on “LIKE” next to it. There is also the “SHARE” button underneath each article where you can submit the article to Pinterest, Google+, Twitter, Chime.in, Facebook, Tumblr and StumpleUpon.

Thanks a lot for following:

@111publishing

http://on.fb.me/TvqDaK
http://bit.ly/VmtVAS 111Publishing @ Google+

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How Do You Deal With Copyright & Plagiarism?

 

Unfortunately plagiarism is part of an authors life. You might find out about it when purchasing books from your “competition” or when you “Look Inside” books at online dealer’s and aggregators websites. If something seems to be suspect, buy the book. You can return it within a couple of days…

What to do if you find out that your work has been plagiarized?

Contact the (online) store who sells the copyright-infringed work, e.g. Barnes & Noble, Sony, Apple or (most likely) Amazon, which has a “Feedback” window on every page. One of the window’s option: “Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?” Click here  Amazon takes Copyright Infringement seriously, not only for concern of their reputation, but also to avoid retribution from authors. The work, containing your copyrighted material will be removed within days.

• Don’t attack the offender directly. Let this dirty job do by your lawyer and the (online) store’s legal department.
• Let a lawyer draw up a “Cease and Desist” letter.
• Prepare everything for your legal presenter in writing, as their top dollars fees per hour have to be advanced by the client (you) first, before it can be claimed from the offender.

But how can you protect yourself from plagiarism?
Invest $35 in your book and obtain a registered copyright. You will then be able to command a higher claim from an infringer: you can collect “Statutory Damages”  plus all your Attorney Fees.

Print Copyright Notices in Your Book:
• The symbol © or the word “Copyright”
• The year of first publication of the work
• The name of the owner or creator

Sure, your manuscript has copyright from the moment you put “pen to paper.” However, if you did not register your copyright officially, or only after the infringement, you can only sue for “Actual Damages” – not so easy to demonstrate. Get all the addresses for several countries where you can register the copyright – in a former blog from January 28, 2012

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Why Should You Register the Copyright of Your Manuscript?

Copyright Notice Listing

It is not required for an author to register your work or even provide a notice. But… there are reasons to protect yourself and what you created.

Copyright means the sole right to produce or reproduce a work in any form. And in most countries, a work – such as literature, music or software – is automatically protected as soon as it is created. Excluded are ideas, titles, names, facts and short phrases.

However, proving your claim may be a very difficult matter without proper evidence. Often it boils down to a case of “their word against yours”. Without proper protection, work that you have created, could end up making money for someone else.

Claims in US Courts:

• If you have registered your work before infringement, you can collect Statutory Damages plus attorney fees.
• If you registered after infringement, but before filing suit, you can only sue for Actual Damages – which you have to demonstrate.

Content of Copyright Notices in Your Book:

• The symbol © or the word “Copyright”
• The year of first publication of the work
• The name of the owner or creator

Where to Submit

Canada: online to the Copyright Office, Canadian Intellectual Property Office Web site
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca (fee Can $50)

USA: online to the U.S. Copyright Office, via the Library of Congress
http://www.copyright.gov  (fee US $ 35)

United Kingdom: online UK Copyright Service
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk  (online registration are £39.00 for 5 years or £64.00 for 10 years per work. Uploads over 10MB are subject to a fee of 3p per additional MB)

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Copyright registrations become effective the day on which application and payment are received at the office, but it may take months until you receive the certificate.

Sources:

Copyright Portal
http://portal.brint.com/cgi-bin/cgsearch/cgsearch.cgi?query=copyrights

Canadian Guide to Copyright
http://www.cipo.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/cipointernet-internetopic.nsf/eng/h_wr02281.html

UK Copyright Law
http://www.copyrightservice.co.uk/copyright/p01_uk_copyright_law
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Hold the Thieves!

Your website or blog content might be ruthlessly plagiarized by lazy web content writers who steal rather than create it.  For content theft, the first thing to do is to identify the offending party. This can be done for free through a manual search of extract of your content with Google Blog Search – By permitting searching exact phrases, post titles or author names, the advanced search feature on Google Blogs search enables finding other sites publishing one’s work.

There are also automated solutions available for a monthly fee:

CopyScape  –  A plagiarism detecting tool where you can enter your web address to find other sites that may be publishing your content. The free version can be used for manual check. The Premium versions enables checking specific content and the CopySentry tool will monitor the web regularly for newly published content.

Grammarly  – This tool combines checking your content for grammatical mistakes and detecting plagiarism, sending warnings when any content piece is plagiarized.

Read a lot more how you can fight theft of your intellectual property in this superb post:

http://www.epublishabook.com/2011/09/28/what-to-do-in-case-of-copyright-infringement-2/

 

Copyright and Fair Use of Online Images

Do you understand the term fair use?
Just because you provide attribution and/or a link back to the original doesn’t mean you’re free and clear. Fair use has nothing to do with attribution. That’s an issue related to plagiarism – different from copyright.

A classic example of fair use of an image to use online is product reviews. If you want to review a book, a new piece of technology, a food product or whatever widget, you’ll likely want to include a photo.

Fair use basically means you’re allowed to infringe on someone’s copyright and they can’t do anything about it. If your use is covered by fair use, you don’t have to provide attribution anyway (although it would be nice). The question is:

• Why are you using the image?
• Did you transform the image?
• How much of the image are you using?
• Are you willing to risk your site being taken down?

Read the whole article here:
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/copyright-fair-use-and-how-it-works-for-online-images/