Help! how do you file against your stolen content?

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   StellaSeeposted 11 years ago

   I understand that if you ever find your content on another site you're supposed to file the DMCA complaint, but do you file that through google? the website? Or should you contact the website host first to see if they will take it down? I don't know where to start....

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   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      If it's on someone's personal blog, or a small business blog, your first step is to look for a "Contact Us" on the website, and use that to send an email.  I usually try to be fairly polite while ensuring I include a threat!!
      
      "This article (link) on your website is a copy of my  article which appears here (link).  This article is copyright and may not be used without my permission.  You are very welcome to retain the article on payment of my usual re-use fee ($50), otherwise please remove it from your site.   You should be aware that if you fail to take action, you will be reported to Google for theft, which may result in your site being removed from search results or in the loss of your Adsense account."
      
      I've sold two articles this way, and in many cases it's enough to get the article removed, IF the site owner has made an innocent mistake.
      
      If it's an article site like HubPages, they may have a link on their site for "Report Abuse" or "copyright" or "file DMCA" - if so, use that instead.   Reputable article-writing sites are usually quick to respond and ban the user who posted the copy.
      
      However, if it's an obviously spammy site and it looks like they've blatantly stolen your work, don't waste your time being nice.  Check to see if they are showing Adsense ads.  If they are, click on the small tab at the bottom of one of the ads, and follow the links to report them straight to Google.
      
      If they don't have Adsense, then you can try the webhost.  I haven't found them to be very responsive though.

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      1. 75

         StellaSeeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

         Hi Marisa, I ended up contacting the website as well as the web host. The website never responded but the web host emailed me back saying that they took it down and I checked again and the copied article is gone. Phew, that's a relief! So that's how it's done..Thanks again for your help
         
         and thanks 2uesday and Simone for your responses!

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2. 65

   2uesdayposted 11 years ago

   This link should help with the information you need -
   http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
   
   hope that is helpful in sorting this out.

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      Simone Smithposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Oh, thanks for sharing that, 2uesday!

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3. 87

   Simone Smithposted 11 years ago

   It's best to file the DMCA complaint directly with the author. If not the author, then the website/platform. If that doesn't work, then Google or the host might do.
   
   More on filing DMCAs can be found here: http://hubpages.com/learningcenter/how- … -complaint
   
   Sorry this happened to you! It is not uncommon, so rest assured things will be OK.

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   1. 75

      StellaSeeposted 11 years agoin reply to this

      Hi 2uesday, Hi Simone, I checked out the link you sent me but I'm still kinda confused about something.. I did the Whois search and I figured out who the site is registered under and the webhosting site (because it didn't mention an author) It's hosted by godaddy.com, so do I send a DMCA to godaddy? Sorry I'm so technically challenged..

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