Do you have questions about copyright issues?

1. 83

   RachaelOhalloranposted 9 years ago

   Inspired by WryLit's offer to help HubPages Community:
   
   I will answer your questions about copyright issues. If I don't know, I will research to find an answer for you. I write on quite a few copyright topics.
   
   I'm not an attorney. I'm a writer like you. I just have a keen interest in copyright, trademark and plagarism issues. My answers are not to be construed as the final word. An attorney will offer more expert advice. But hey, this is free and I answer back faster than attorney.
   
   Post questions here. TY

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2. 56

   Jakelinposted 9 years ago

   I have a question for you. Suppose I submitted an article in any website and one other person copied my article and published it on other article site before it is crawled. Now his article is crawled before our article. So in this situation what is the solutions? Please give me answer.

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   1. 83

      RachaelOhalloranposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      The honest answer is
      I don't know.
      I'm sorry

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   2. 93

      lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If you are the person who wrote the article, file a DMCA complaint against any other copies that may appear online. You're sending in a legal statement that you're the owner of the content, regardless of whose site gets crawled first.
      
      (I'm also not a lawyer. I took a six week class in copyright law for idiots several years ago, which taught me how variable intellectual property issues can be.)

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      1. 83

         RachaelOhalloranposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         RachaelOhalloran replies: I did research Jakelin's question before offering my reply and was not able to find a suitable answer.
         
         However, the posted question pertained to simultaneous publishing (or publishing before the article was crawled) and how it would be determined 'who' published first to prove the identity of the true author. 
         
         That is why I wrote that I don't know the answer as to how it would be determined before it was crawled or indexed. 
         
         If it is here on HP, they know who published first, so it is not an issue on this site.
         
         Unfortunately, with online articles, DMCA is the only retaliation we have in going after a suspected infringer.  And it is the stock answer on most of HP's forums.
         
         But, DMCA is not an offer of proof of ownership. It is a sworn statement that you say you are the true owner, but it is not proof.
         
         If the work is copied to other sites, most sites agree that your DMCA filed in timely fashion does establish that you are "claiming" ownership. 
         
         But what if the other party filed DMCA in a timely fashion as well? 
         
         Determining true ownership in this instance would be difficult. In the extreme, draft work and/or notes and perhaps investigation into the actual time of each site's cache copy might be considered toward offers of proof.  This is extreme, as I said, and probably would only get to this level in a lawsuit setting.
         
         This is an interesting question but since I'm only a writer who researches copyright law and not a copyright lawyer, my previous answer of "I don't know" was given so it wouldn't look like I was giving legal advice.
         
         The theories presented in this comment are just that - theories. Your question would be better addressed (and will probably receive better answers) on a site where copyright lawyers answer these types of questions. I learn a lot from those sites in the researching for my hubs.
         
         EDIT: I tried but I am unable to delete this forum even though I was the original poster.  The reason why I wished to delete is because subsequent comments in this forum show that my reply here is misconstrued as legal advice, when it is clearly written in my statement that it is not. 
         
         I hereby notify that I will no longer be answering questions in this forum, since it is obvious my replies are being misconstrued.

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         1. 93

            lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            The question was "what is the solution?", so I gave a possible solution, in two sentences: assert your claim by filing a simple legal document against all other copies of your work.
            
            If telling someone to file a DMCA is legal advice, the HubPages forum must be filled with lawyers.

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   3. 77

      LuisEGonzalezposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Like lisavollrath said, it does not matter when the article was crawled. What matters is the date of publication/submission to the site.

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      1. 83

         RachaelOhalloranposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         Agreed.  Which is why I said in my statement - "investigation into the actual time of each site's cache copy might be considered toward offers of proof."  i.e. date/time of submission to site will be in site's cache copy.

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