Infringement Questions

1. 83

   Whitney05posted 14 years ago

   I have one of my hubs posted in 11/26/2007 copied in various places. I've been contacting and working on it for a while now. I have a question. One of the blogs that copied the info is on a free wordpress blog. They want proof outside of anything published online that it is my content. Does anyone have any ideas?
   
   The blog was posted on 4/13/2008.

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2. 72

   livewithrichardposted 14 years ago

   Gather proof that the content is actually yours. A registered document with the US Copyright office is best but if you don't have it registered then you need to use proof from a third party online, i.e., an electronic copy (save a browser copy) of Google's cache of your page or website with a date. Hopefully you have already done this previous to the date the content was stolen. Alternatively, if you allowed anyone else to post the data on their site, with your permission, possibly in a newsletter with a date on it PREVIOUS to the copyright infringement, then include that URL in your letter. If your website with the stolen content has been online more than 1 year you can provide a link to the Way Back Machine which keeps copies of websites and will provide 3rd party proof who had the content online first. This does not prove ownership but does prove when it was first published.
   
   
   These are not my words...lol I stole them from here http://www.loriswebs.com/stop-stolen-content.html

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3. 74

   Lissieposted 14 years ago

   Thats outrageous Whitney - maybe HP can give you a statement - but hello why is up to you to prove its yours?

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4. 61

   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   Since we (on HubPages) have no control over the date recorded for each Hub (which shows on "My Account") I would think some kind of "back up" by HubPages (confirming the date and stating that you have no control over what's on record) ought to  do it.  Usually, it is the date of any material that automatically "marks" the copyright.

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5. 83

   Whitney05posted 14 years ago

   livewithrichard, that sounds complicated.. I didn't have any of that before the content was copied.
   
   Lissie, I agree. They said that because there is a lot of info on that topic, they can't prove it's mine that was actually stolen. The hub was written as flagship hub, which has to be approved as non-duplicate before it's able to be published. Since then, that hub has been replicated on a number of blogs and sites. It's even been used as the video description on YouTube a few times. Right now, there's a place on YouTube that has it copied, but I can't seem to find it, as the link HubPages gives me is to a profile and it's nowhere on the profile (although, I'm not sure if the duplicate thing is working right, as it's told me a few sites for other hubs have my content but my content isn't on the site anywhere.).
   
   Lisa, the only thing I could think of was a print screen of the published date.

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6. 63

   Mishaposted 14 years ago

   Whitney, listen to Richard, he makes a lot of sense. It is really easy, here is your HP profile on wayback machine
   
   http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://hub … /Whitney05
   
   just copy-paste there url of your hub, and you will see how it looked waaaaaaaay back

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7. 61

   Lisa HWposted 14 years ago

   Couldn't you e.mail HubPages, and request that someone do a quick and "official" verification that the Hub was written when your account shows it was?  I'd think having someone else say you have no control over the date that shows on "My Account", and having them further back-up that it is the accurate date, may do it.

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8. STAFF

   pauldeedsposted 14 years ago

   If the site it's hosted on is reputable, all that should be required is a valid DMCA request - no back and forth, and no further evidence necessary.  Under DMCA your statement of fact is sufficient without further evidence, and the content should be removed fairly quickly upon their receipt of your request (or they can lose their safe harbor protections).
   
   To deal with false claims, there is a DMCA counter claim procedure, and the potential for lawsuits.  It rarely comes to that.

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