People stealing articles and selling them in E-books

1. 96

   alexadryposted 9 years ago

   The answer may seem like a no-brainer, just hire an attorney, but what do you do if these thieves are in countries like Egypt or India? I have a good copyright attorney near me, but she charges $250 an hour consultation only, I can't afford to waste money if not sure anything can be done. Anybody have any ideas? Last time I caught a company in Egypt who had stolen my article, I contacted them and they were *nice* enough to remove it from the e-book and pay me to write another article to replace it.  I think they got scared if I took legal action.

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   1. 93

      lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I would treat it just as I would if I caught someone in the US was doing it. Contact the hosting company, send them a DMCA form (or, the equivalent, if they have something posted in their terms of service), and request that the material be removed. Even though DMCA is specific to the US, both Egypt and India are members of WIPO, and have laws that apply to intellectual property.

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      1. 96

         alexadryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

         The problem is I am not sure if Google can search since most of these e-books can be seen only once you pay. I have casually found one e-book for free, but see many others that are selling it on different websites for a nice amount of $$$. It looks like it became an affiliate system where several websites are monetizing on it.  I did pay one website that sold it much cheaper so  to make sure it had my content, and sure it did.  I see this as a major offense and think it's beyond the scope of DMCA, since they are monetizing nicely on it and perhaps can get some compensation through an attorney.

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         1. 93

            lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

            You don't need Google to be able to search for something to file a DMCA, which covers the posting of any digital goods online. As long as you have the address of where the content is posted, file a complaint. It's free.

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2. 84

   psycheskinnerposted 9 years ago

   You don't need an attorney.  Google the title, which you know and DMCA any distributor, host, advertiser appearing on the same page etc.  They will give up and move on to easier marks.

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3. 96

   alexadryposted 9 years ago

   OK, then, thanks for clarifying. I thought because you have to pay to gain access to the ebook, Google wouldn't be able to crawl to identify the copied content. Now, I must figure out how to file a DMCA since it affects like over 50 articles which will be very time consuming to post them 1 by 1 They sure don't make life easy for us and we are the victims of all this!

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   1. 93

      lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      If you're filing the DMCA with the site, don't do it individually. Fill out one form, and just do a numbered list of the violating URLs, and a second numbered list of your original URLs.

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4. 72

   relacheposted 9 years ago

   You don't file Digital Millennium Copyright Acts. *facepalm*. You file complaints or notices of infringement or takedown notices.
   
   The Digital Millennium Copyright Act is a US law, which is why many foreign companies and websites ignore the takedown notices.  USA-based search engines, web hosts and domaIn registrars, however, all willing comply.

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   1. 93

      lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      As I said, "Even though DMCA is specific to the US, both Egypt and India are members of WIPO, and have laws that apply to intellectual property."
      
      While a DMCA does not apply, the same language can be used in a request to remove content.

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   2. 93

      lisavollrathposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I just received an email from a site in Ireland that had one of my hubs (formerly a lens, and prior to that, an article on my own web site) posted as a .pdf file. I sent the site and their hosting company the same information I would have put into a DMCA complaint.
      
      They responded with apologies, and the file has been removed.

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