My Content was Stolen: How to File a DMCA Complaint

Because your Hubs are public and available for the world to see, there is a chance that someone might copy and republish them.

How to Check for Copied Hubs

If you want to check to see if one of your Hubs has been copied somewhere online, you can use a site like Copyscape to find online duplicates. To use these services, all you typically have to do is enter in your Hub's URL, and if its content has been copied and republished on other sites, they should show up in your query.

You can also take a paragraph of your Hub, copy it, and paste it into a Google search bar. Be sure to surrounded your paragraph with quotes so Google does an exact search.

The directions above also apply to photos. To find out if someone has used one of your photos you can go to www.tineye.com and upload the photo or file url and see where else on the web the photo is being used. To put digital watermarks on your photos, you can use the service by www.digimarc.com.

Keep in mind that ingredients lists for recipes cannot be copyrighted, but the directions for recipes, as well as curated recipe collections, can.

If someone on HubPages has copied and published your copyrighted content, please visit our Copyright Infringement page.

If you do find that some or all of the content of one of your Hubs has been copied and republished without your permission, you may file a DMCA complaint with the person who posted the content or the site hosting that content.

To file a notice of infringement with a person or site, you must provide a written communication, by mail/post, email, or fax, that sets forth the items specified below. Please note that you will be liable for damages (including costs and attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that a product or activity is infringing your copyrights.

To expedite the site's ability to process your request, please use the following format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has been infringed upon (for example, "The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on http://username.hubpages.com/hub/your-hub").
2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing the copyrighted work listed in item #1 above (for example, “The following page infringes on my copyrighted work: http://theirsite.com/Infringing_content”).
3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to allow the person or website to contact you (email address is preferred).
4. Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law."
5. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."
6. Sign the paper.
7. Send the written communication to the the person or website's mailing address, fax number, or email, with the subject line "DMCA Complaint." If sending an email, it is best to include the complaint in the body of the email and not an attachment, as many do not open attachments due to security concerns.

If you cannot find the email address for the website that has published your copyrighted content, you can utilize WHOIS to find the person associated with the site's domain. Simply type in the URL to the text box, then send your DMCA Complaint to the email address associated with that domain.

If content from one of your Hubs has been published on an article site such as Squidoo, it is best to contact the site instead of the author with your complaint. The same goes for blog hosting sites such as blogger.

If you do not get a response from the person or site with which you have filed your DMCA complaint, you may then file a DMCA complaint with Google and try to get the page de-indexed.