Copyright thieves

1. 96

   Thomas Swanposted 10 years ago

   Recently, I found that a number of my articles have been stolen for use on various sites and blogs. In at least two cases the stolen version has been outperforming mine, and ranking higher on google. I have been busy filing DMCA notices, and most have responded positively, but is there any way for me (and Hubpages) to recoup lost earnings? For example, one stolen page had traffic of 21k, which beats my 6k. It's incredible how the thief gets 3x the traffic, and ranks higher, but I can't change google. However, the stolen content was on a revenue sharing site that will presumably respond positively to my notice. They will no doubt confiscate the thief's earnings too. So, why can't I make a claim to be paid what my article has earnt? Has anyone else tried and had any luck?

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   1. 0

      epsonok0posted 10 years agoin reply to this

      The only way I can figure is if you go to google webmaster tools and force a recrawl and re index of your hub. Only do this after the offending content gets wiped out. Other wise your new crawl will be outperformed by the stolen one. And you only get so many crawls.
      He/she is outperforming you because he/she is on a site that allows html modifications. He/ she is using the new HTML layouts that optimize you for hummingbird and google is recognizing him or her as more complete for the information than you.
      We can not modify the HTML of our hubs so in cases like this we are stuck watching our views plummet and the offenders views climb.

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      1. 96

         Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Damn, that's sad but you're probably right. I'm going to set up some "google alerts" using text from my best hubs. That should catch them before they have a chance to do much damage. I hadn't checked anything for about 3 months, and these thieves were sharing the stolen articles everywhere, which probably helped them overtake me. I wish google would recognize it's stolen and do something about it, but they just seem to value ad-revenue from the traffic these thieves are generating for themselves.

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   2. 95

      wildernessposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Yes, you can file suit in a court of law in the thief's country of residence.  Be prepared to show exactly how much money you lost.
      
      Other than that, no.  I highly doubt that another site will (or legally can) withhold earnings from anyone just because you insist it is stolen material.  Not even if you prove it as they are not a court or judge.

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      1. 96

         Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for replying. I wouldn't want to go to court about it. I was just wondering if anyone's had any luck with contacting these revenue sharing sites to reclaim the money that has been earned from copyrighted work. It's a long shot I know, but it would be nice if there was an easy way. I mean, 21k views equates to about 42 dollars on hubpages. Another stolen hub of mine may have generated hundreds for a thief. That's not to be sniffed at, and I wish there was a way to reclaim it.

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         1. 31

            Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

            Send them a bill.  Seriously. And, threaten to report them to AdSense or whatever monetization they were using if they don't pay.

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            1. 96

               Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

               One of them had the cheek to request putting the stolen page back up with an attribution. Thing is, the URL of the page is still showing very high in search results (with a page 404 error now). If I allowed them to reinsert the content with an attribution, am I right in saying it would pretty much retain its search position as if nothing happened? Anyway, I refused, gave further evidence of theft (from social media shares by the author) and requested compensation. I'll let you know what happens. If not, I'll name the site here because it's a fairly big one .

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               1. 31

                  Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                  You need to have the cache removed from search engines so that the listing will be removed.
                  
                  To remove the cache of on Google:
                  
                  http://support.google.com/bin/static.py … page=ts.cs
                  (click inside the circle which says 'Web Search', then scroll down the page and click inside the circle which says 'A piece of content I am concerned about has already been removed by the webmaster but still appears among the search results.' Then, click on the link 'this tool.' You'll then be asked to sign in and then to enter the page URL and, if the page is still live, a word from the outdated cache page that you want to remove.
                  
                  To remove the cache on Bing/Yahoo:
                  http://www.bing.com/webmaster/help/bing … l-cb6c294d
                  
                  It can take 24 – 48 hours for the removal process.

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                  1. 96

                     Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                     Thanks Writer Fox. I told the site why I was refusing their contributors request, and they claim to be removing the URL completely now. I'll let them do it and see what happens. If not, I can do what you've described.

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                     1. 31

                        Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

                        You remove the cache AFTER they have removed your content.  Hope they do.

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2. 72

   relacheposted 10 years ago

   Whatever they earned from 21k views, it's gonna cost you several thousand times that to take it to court with all parties involved and win your case.   However, if you did happen to actually file for government copyright of the stolen work, the kind where you have a formal copyright ID assigned to your work, a lawsuit might actually be kinda lucrative...

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   1. 96

      Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Thanks for replying. Yea, I wasn't suggesting going to court. It would have to be via emails and digital evidence. I realize it's a long shot, but I am curious to know if anyone else has ever done it successfully. I'm not sure what government copyright is; has anyone got that for their hubs before?

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3. 73

   Marie Flintposted 10 years ago

   Writer Fox, you are so knowledgeable about technical processes. Hub Pages is very lucky to have you. I can't begin to hold a candle to your expertise in online workings.
   
   I am truly sorry writers here at Hub Pages are running into theft issues, and I find the matter a bit depressing. On the one hand, I am honored if someone feels my work is worth copying; on the other, I would like to reap a little reward for my efforts, too. (Sigh! Maybe a hubber knight in shining honor will come to my rescue and mentor me.)
   
   God bless you!

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   1. 31

      Writer Foxposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      Gosh, Thanks!

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4. 88

   Stacie Lposted 10 years ago

   I like the suggestion of sending them a bill...and I naively suggest writing a copywrite notice at the top of each Hub...yeah they can remove it .
   I had once placed a copywrite violation with the sites address at the top of one stolen Hub to ask readers to report any place else they may have read it.

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   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 10 years agoin reply to this

      I have been paid for plagiarised content in the past but only in very specific circumstances
      
      http://hubpages.com/forum/topic/118244#post2495512

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      1. 96

         Thomas Swanposted 10 years agoin reply to this

         Thanks for the link. Like many have said there, it's useless to negotiate with thieves. I just filed a DMCA notice or gave a stern warning of impending action to thieves who put the stolen work up on wordpress or blogspot. That seems to have worked for the most part, but I don't see any way of recouping earnings from them. However, in two cases, the stolen work was "contributed" by the thieves on reputable websites for well-known companies. Given that these companies have legal teams, and financial records of what their contributors are paid, I can make a claim, and may be successful. I suppose I could have asked for money upfront to use the article (with attribution), but they'd probably just take it down and not want to pay for it. Besides, I want the pages gone. They were outranking me in search results because of the reputation of the sites, and the number of backlinks going to them.

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