Copyright Issues and Questions

1. 72

   N. Ramiusposted 13 years ago

   So I haven't been active much on HubPages lately but I did decide to check my hubs and see if my hubs had been copied. I found five verbatim copies across the web. I want thoughts on how to handle them as each situation is different:
   
   Situation 1:
   
   The first was a product hub. The thief has a keyword targeted domain ending in .net and copied everything including the amazon pictures and price, but they are just pictures. Generic Wordpress theme but privacy policy mentions AdSense though there is none on site now. So question #1: Should I file a DMCA now or wait till he has AdSense and then complain to Google before filing a DMCA?
   
   Situation 2:
   
   Not sure how he did it but somehow framed the hub so it has ads all around it. It has everything you would see when you normally click a hub including headings, comments and ads. All the links are live and normal, but it's got an orange frame at the top and side with more Google Ads. Question #2: I'm going to report the site but is there any possibility I would be affected since it has so many ad units now on site? The orange ads are his but I don't know about the ads normally appearing in hub. Any chance Google will trouble me if I report? And how did he do this anyway?
   
   Situation 3:
   
   At a question and answer site, someone copied my hub verbatim as an answer but left a direct back link to my hub. There is one ad at the top of the page but otherwise nothing. Question #3: Any harm in leaving this site alone? I got a free back link and it's duplicate content so their site should never be able to outrank me? What's worst case if I leave it alone?
   
   Situation 4:
   
   I found parts of my hub on 5z5, an RSS submission site. It looks like someone copied my hub to their Blogger blog and then submitted it and all their other articles as an RSS submission. When you follow the link back to the source - the Blogger blog, it says the blog cannot be found. Question 4: Since the blog is gone do I need to do anything with the RSS site or feed or will it eventually disappear on its own? If I do need to do something, what would I do?
   
   Situation 5:
   
   Described in a post I made the other day. Some Algerian site stole my hub, placed ads, yada yada and offer no easy way of contact as it is in French. Curse you French!
   
   And finally my last question:
   
   When you sign or fill out a DMCA letter, do you have to put your real name or will the pseudonym I use on HubPages work? I have the feeling it's going to be my real name.

   replyreport
2. 84

   Edweirdoposted 13 years ago

   Hi N. Ramius - Good to see you're back!
   
   I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you found these duplicates using HubDefender - there are tools there that can help you deal with most of these problems!
   
   For #1, Adsense should not be an issue. Google doesn't own the Internet, and there are other entities that you can address when it comes to DMCA and removal notices. You can send a DMCA to the blog's web host.
   
   For #2, is the site in question the same as one of those mentioned in this forum thread: http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/62312 ?
   
   If so, then it may not be an actual "copy" of your hub. You can contact the poster of that thread to fix the situation.
   
   If it's another site, then just follow the normal DMCA/removal notice procedure.
   
   #3 - IMHO a fully copied hub with a backlink to the original is not a good thing! Stealing your content in its entirety and then pointing back to it is still stealing!
   
   #4 - Is this a copy of your whole hub, or just a snippet from that hub? In other words, on HubDefender, does it show up as Red? In general, RSS copies usually consist of a paragraph or two followed by a link back to the original. These are often valid backlinks and are to be expected when searching for duplicates
   
   #5 - Even if the site is in French, the tools at HubDefender can tell you who the ISP is. If it is a U.S. company then they are bound by the DMCA and must act if you file a complaint. Even if it isn't a U.S.-based ISP there's a good chance that they will still honor a DMCA request for removal.
   
   And yes, you must use your real name and other info when filing a DMCA request. To do otherwise is actually a crime under U.S. law!
   
   Again, assuming you are using HubDefender, just click on the duplicate search results and look for the link for "Create a Cease and Desist Letter" and/or "Create a DMCA Request" under each one. These links will help you find out who the appropriate contacts are, and there are fill-in forms that will generate the letters so that you can copy and paste them into an email.
   
   Hope that helps!

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3. 72

   N. Ramiusposted 13 years ago

   Yes I used HubDefender. Came across it by chance and saw it was free. Very useful tool which I wouldn't have used if you didn't have it for free.
   
   For #2, here is the site:
   http://www. deperu.com/web.php?sitioweb=hubpages.com/hub/Kids-Trampoline
   
   How do I handle reporting this??
   
   
   For #4, it shows up red in HubDefender. Link is:
   
   5z5.com/News/?739f54225c22e1a9
   
   The source blog seems to have taken my article as their own, then submitted it to the RSS feed as part of his collection and then his blogger Blog got disabled but my content still appears in the feed.

   replyreport
   1. 84

      Edweirdoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      For the deperu.com I would recommend using the HubDefender tools to find the ISP and send a Cease & Desist or DMCA notice
      
      For the 5z5 one, if it only contains a link to a dead blog, then there's really not much you can do...

      replyreport
4. 72

   N. Ramiusposted 13 years ago

   For #2, would your report to Google or the ISP?
   
   What is the best way to file copyright with a foreign site with foreign hosting like this one: http://www. dzblog.net/bx123 ? Will sites respond if I send my complaint in English?
   
   It's surprising but I seem to attract a low level of copy theft. I've never had to deal with these issues before.

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   1. 84

      Edweirdoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      You can file complaints with Google and the ISP at the same time, and whichever one responds first will take care of it.
      
      You can also request that Google de-index duplicate content if you cannot get it removed from the site where it has been published.
      
      I haven't done this myself, but there are lots of de-indexing complaints listed at chillingeffects.org - see this one for an example: http://chillingeffects.org/dmca512c/not … ceID=52429
      
      In it, Fox asks Google to de-index links that point to sites that have stolen their copyrighted content...
      
      And I would assume that complaints in English will work, but if you know another language that is appropriate then that can't hurt!

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5. 72

   N. Ramiusposted 13 years ago

   How do you get an RSS feed to pull stolen content?
   
   Obviously the blogger stole the content originally to post on his site and then submitted his RSS feed to feeder sites.
   
   If the blog ends up being canceled due to infringement will the RSS feed one day reflect that? If not, how can I have the RSS feed fix the issue to remove the duplicate content which doesn't help me in any way.

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   1. 84

      Edweirdoposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I don't know that the feed can be dealt with - it's probably an automated feed that isn't actually under anyone's control, so I don't know who you would contact to "fix" it.
      
      If the blog is unpublished the RSS feed may eventually die out, but I'm not sure...

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