Does hubpages act on copyright infringements?
I ask because I flagged a hub over a month ago for being a blatant copyright infringement (hub/Earn_Money_at_Home2) and it seems to still be very much around.
Does Hubpages actually do anything about copyright infringements? How long do they take on average once a hub has been flagged?
91- Misha
- 11116 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 18
- Followers: 1917
They don't do it based on flagging - while I think they lower the hubscore. You need to file a DMCA complaint for them to take a decisive action.
See this
http://hubpages.com/forum/post/27820Thanks for your answers, guys. From that link:
If you think something may violate the HubPages rules please flag it. Every flagged hub will be reviewed by a person at HubPages and the appropriate action taken.
So, presumably, in cases like this Hubpages is aware of the violation but chooses to do nothing till it gets a formal complaint from the copyright owner?
It appears that "appropriate action" can be complete inaction
(even when there's clear evidence via archive.org and copyscape). What I'm getting at is that there may be no proactive efforts here to ensure clean play - the reliance is on the copyright owner noticing the violation and filing a complaint - and if he doesn't notice then.... let's keep it quiet. To further dissuade the copyright owner - he can't email it or fill a form but he's got to write a letter and send it by post! Nice one, hubpages, that'll get rid of a lot of them.
I can't believe that's true of Hubpages. There's got to be another explanation and I'm keen to see what it is.
Misha, nice to see you in Don's group. Smart.- 91
- Misha
- 11116 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 18
- Followers: 1917
LOL Beta, I figured this out a while ago - and don't know where you are real - here or there
As for HP and copyright - I think this is your usual strive for perfection. Guys have limited resources, and it does not make any business sense to waste those resources on the cases where even owner of the copyright don't care. I think they are pretty reasonable with their approach 
84- Jason Menayan
- 261 posts
- HubPages Staff
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Hubs: 6
- Followers: 184
Beta the eternal critic is back.
The copyright owner can email the copyright infringement complaint.
And no, we don't plan to research all 100,000 Hubs and verify independently if they are, in fact, published by the owner or by someone who has permission. That is, frankly, a ridiculous thing to expect any site like ours to do.
90- gamergirl
- 2648 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 179
- Followers: 770
*agrees with Misha*
84- pauldeeds
- 1850 posts
- HubPages Staff
- Joined: 4 years ago
- Hubs: 1
- Followers: 377
beta1070 wrote:
So, presumably, in cases like this Hubpages is aware of the violation but chooses to do nothing till it gets a formal complaint from the copyright owner?
We become aware of a copyright violation when the copyright holder informs us of it. There is no way for a 3rd party to determine definitively whether something that happens to be copied actually violates a copyright. That's why we suggest that you contact the suspected rights holder directly, so that they can contact us if they so choose.
paul, I refer you to my quote from earlier. You are saying that the appropriate action you take is monumental inaction? Either you take appropriate action or you don't, which is correct?
Jason, if it wasn't for me ... you and Paul would end up slacking! Yes, it does appear that you can submit a complaint by email - it's right at the bottom of all that detailed explanation about sending a letter in the post and fax and the multi-point description of the procedure the original owner has to follow if he has the audacity to submit a complaint...
Back to the point. I appreciate that in some cases it's difficult to ascertain first use ... however, your policy is to wait and do nothing even in those cases where you know for certain there has been a copyright violation? Please clarify.
>>it does not make any business sense to waste those resources on the cases where even owner of the copyright don't care
Misha, I love you to bits but I believe you've made a serious misjudgement. That someone doesn't know of a theft and/or doesn't have the resources to chase it up and get it removed does not mean that he doesn't care. If someone is encouraging copyright violations by their inaction, it's not cool to find excuses for them.- 84
- Jason Menayan
- 261 posts
- HubPages Staff
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Hubs: 6
- Followers: 184
Beta,
Fortunately, there is a U.S. law that deals exactly with this sort of thing, and we follow it. It makes our job simpler.
http://www.copyright.gov/legislation/dmca.pdf appreciate that in some cases it's difficult to ascertain first use ... however, your policy is to wait and do nothing even in those cases where you know for certain there has been a copyright violation? Please clarify.
- 90
- gamergirl
- 2648 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 179
- Followers: 770
Your question has been clarified. *points up to Jason and Paul's posts*
100- Whitney05
- 2295 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 675
- Followers: 1913
beta1070 wrote:
appreciate that in some cases it's difficult to ascertain first use ... however, your policy is to wait and do nothing even in those cases where you know for certain there has been a copyright violation? Please clarify.
Beta, they cannot 100% guarantee that it has violated a copywrite.
What if the hubber got permission to copy the information and post it as a hub?
Until the person that's work was stolen says something, the team cannot take down a hub because it may be somewhere else, even if it clearly somewhere else. The hubber could have gotten permission to copy the information, which would not be violating a copyright.
99- Uninvited Writer
- 5653 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 118
- Followers: 771
If you do know who the copyright belongs to, you can let that person know it has been violated and have them report it. Most websites will let you know how to contact the writers.
96- darkside
- 4789 posts
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Hubs: 218
- Followers: 1146
Here's a couple more choice quotes from Hub Team members...
You should let the copyright owner know so that they can file a DMCA take down notice if they so choose. It's neither practical nor possible for us to make a determination on every single piece of content that flows through HubPages. If we even tried, we would immediately become liable for all infringements that we didn't catch. That's just the way the law works.
Source
Plagiarized (i.e. unauthorized copied) content is not allowed, but the only person who can report it is the content owner.
We must comply with US DMCA law and have a procedure where a content owner can ask us to take down plagiarized content. That procedure is laid out here.
Source<deleted, as it would provide a disruptive element the opportunity to take the discussion off course>
Beta, they cannot 100% guarantee that it has violated a copywrite.
Actually, they can in some cases. There are several well known sites that don't licence their content. Articles stolen from there are obviously stolen. When there is reasonable cause for doubt any decent site would challenge the poster for copy of the permission. If it's hubpages' policy to NOT do anything (I notice pauldeeds doesn't confirm whether his "action" is actually "inaction") even when it knows something is stolen then hiding behind DMCA arguements is weak. Hubpages isn't an ISP and won't quality under the section 512 exemption so, sorry Jason, one interpretation could be that you aren't complying with the legislation.
Facts:
People are stealing content and posting it as hubpages
They are using this tactic to get linkbacks to their own sites
The more hubs with stolen content that they can put up the more links they get
Hubpages, in most cases, ends up doing nothing about it
Thought: Is there a market for a tool that
A) Trawls hubpages for those copyright violations that are long standing
B) Identifies the source sites of that content as easy targets
C) Finds other content from those sites that is not already in hubpages
D) Sells this to punters via an easy interface - they type in the URL they want links for and the tool steals content for them, inserts a link and gives them stuff ready for posting in hubpages.
Not that I would do anything like that. Call it a hypothetical....- 90
- gamergirl
- 2648 posts
- Joined: 2 years ago
- Hubs: 179
- Followers: 770
Why don't you email the team about it? You would receive answers on a one on one basis, rather than making it appear as if you're trying to call the staff of the site out publicly. You come back every other month or so and make accusations against the way the site is run, on a public forum, when they could - faster and easier in some cases - respond via email.
Also, please note this thread:
http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/3617 Why don't you email the team about it?
I didn't, get over it.
There are some serious questions on the table. If you don't want to participate in the discussion feel free to leave.- 84
- Jason Menayan
- 261 posts
- HubPages Staff
- Joined: 3 years ago
- Hubs: 6
- Followers: 184
beta1070,
If you are still unclear about our rules and procedures, or want to lodge a complaint against a user who has illegally published content that you own the copyright to, then please contact us via email.
