Regarding Copyright

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   Farah N Huqposted 3 months ago

   Does the copyright ©️ name and date that automatically gets generated upon clicking while posting a hub on HubPages give our work the legal protection that actual copyright should give us? In other words, how protected is our content when we post them here on HubPages and what action can we take if our content gets stolen?

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      Miebakagh57posted 3 months agoin reply to this

      The laws of the land protected our persons, homes, and things.                                     Likewise, the laws of copyright protected the intectual properties of every writer, or artists.                                     Nevertheless, certain dim-wits will likely to take advantage of the law, and inringe on you properties. The law equally empowers you to bench press the offending party or parties. File a DMCA agaist such.

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      1. 84

         Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

         So suppose I am sitting in Bangladesh and posting my content on HubPages where they are providing me with an automatically generated copyright, does it hold any legal significance? Can I press charges against someone in Russia or China for using my content without my permission by showing my post on HubPages as copyrighted original material?

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            CYong74posted 3 months agoin reply to this

            The simple answer is, you can, if you're willing to dump money into the sea.
            
            It will be a civil case and the great chance is, your accusation will be ignored.
            
            It's a standard ill of writing online.

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            1. 84

               Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

               Exactly, so basically there is no way we can protect our work from infringement...other than just claiming it to be ours by showing the date and time of posting it somewhere online....and it will probably get ignored because of a lack of formal registration.....or does posting in HubPages gets us an automatic registration? Can you please enlighten me on this registration part?

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               1. 97

                  CYong74posted 3 months agoin reply to this

                  Farah, I think you're looking at this in the wrong way. Registering your content, and spending money to do it, DOES NOT protect you. Doing so simply formalizes your ownership and in some cases, that might help if you indeed wish to pursue legal address.
                  
                  In most cases, any such registration isn't going to help too for the thieves can just ignore you. If not, they are in a country that's disinterested in such matters.
                  
                  You must also accept that certain countries, such as the ones you mentioned, openly disregard the legal standards of other countries.
                  
                  Frankly, I suggest that you don't fret too much about this, incredibly annoying as content thief is. Just strike the stealing site with Google DMCA and deny them as much revenue as possible.
                  
                  Do note this too. Copyright is a very convoluted  business because different countries have different practices and standards, even if they are part of certain international conventions. You might end up in a messy place that you gain nothing from.

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                     Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

                     Got it! Thank you so much for the clarification. Blessings to you...

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         2. 73

            Miebakagh57posted 3 months agoin reply to this

            Yes, you can. But the simple truth is that the 'original' material you're benching pressing, can even fall to your disfavour.                                       I'm not an expert, nor an 'impert' at the law. The truth is that a Judge, is likely bent or be convince on the more eloquent side with proof. I had an uncle (now late) who was once a High Court Judge. He legally opined that, unless your submissions are 'straight as a speed arrow', you lost the case.                                        Curiously, an critically, nearly most of the copyright laws favour the offline content. The online is a green zone. Only the DMCA, will tell Google, Bing, Yahoo, and other search engines to de-index your copy content. But you still had to produce proof of originality. Much thanls.

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            1. 84

               Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

               Thank you, Miebakagh, for your insight on this matter. Much appreciated!

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   2. STAFF

      Matt Wellsposted 3 months agoin reply to this

      You own the articles you publish on HubPages. If someone copies your content, you may file a DMCA complaint against them. Please visit the FAQ for more information.

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      1. 84

         Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

         Thank you so much, Matt Wells, for the clarification! Blessings to you....

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2. 82

   Brenda Arledgeposted 3 months ago

   It pretty much copyrights it as your own.
   There has been as occasional time where Hubpages has questioned my work, but i quickly showed them original pieces with dates & they've been approved.

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   1. 84

      Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

      What do you mean by original pieces? Do you need to have it registered and copyrighted in your country to claim it to be yours or does that happen automatically?
      Bangladesh is under the Berne union but I am not clear how much protection that offers me on the internet.
      So suppose I post my thoughts or say poems here on HubPages for the first time without any prior registration or legal copyright in my country Bangladesh, and I only click on the copyright button to avail the copyright sign and date and name as provided automatically by HubPages, below each of my hubs, does that count as legal copyright to my content? Can I charge a person by showing this as being my original work? Does this copyright ©️ Farah N Huq 2022 hold any legal significance worldwide?

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      1. 95

         eugbugposted 3 months agoin reply to this

         It probably just states the fact that you own copyright, but you own that anyway by default when you create a work. The only benefit is that it may frighten off some people from copying articles. The ruthless (or ignorant) plagiarists don't care though and the only way to deal with infringement is to hunt them down and get the webhost that hosts their content to remove it (Or get Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo and other search engines to deindex it so it doesn't appear in searches, which is usually good enough, but it can still be accessed directly by typing the URL).

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3. 95

   eugbugposted 3 months ago

   Remember copyright protection, similar to a patent, isn't like a magic shield that protects a work from being copied. Also according to copyright.gov, registering copyright is voluntary, but:
   
   "....You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work".
   
   See:
   
   https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html
   
   I'm not sure of the accuracy of the Wikipedia article, but it suggests also that the copyright symbol is unnecessary, since the Berne Conventation Implementation Act of 1988 was enacted.
   
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copyright … NYT1988-13

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   1. 84

      Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much for the clarification, eugbug. So this means once I post my content, whether on Facebook or here on HubPages it becomes mine automatically and that applies to all countries within the Berne Union or under agreements that protect international work. However, to put up a legal fight I need to have a formal registration and copyright. So if I follow this, then my articles here on HubPages give me the proper rights to my work but without formal registration, I can’t fight a battle in court. Please correct me if I got this wrong.

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      1. 95

         eugbugposted 3 months agoin reply to this

         Well that's how I understand it, for countries that are party to the Convention. See third paragraph here:
         
         https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berne_Convention
         
         I'm not a legal expert, so don't quote me

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4. 95

   eugbugposted 3 months ago

   Registering the date a work was created is another topic. I guess this is one of the reasons for registering copyright with the US copyright office so it can be proved your work was created first. It's possible for a plagiarist to change any date stamp that gives the creation date in a HTML file and it's the plagiarists word against the plagiaree (is that a word?) regarding who created the work first. Also the webhost may not believe you created the work first.
   
   See this too.
   
   https://hubpages.com/community/forum/35 … challenged

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   1. 84

      Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

      Thank you so much for the clarification. I think I have a far better understanding of this issue now. My blessings to you...

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      1. 95

         eugbugposted 3 months agoin reply to this

         You're welcome

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5. 84

   Farah N Huqposted 3 months ago

   Thank you BRENDA ARLEDGE, eugbug, CYong74, Miebakagh57 for clarifying the topic. Your support is much appreciated. Blessings to you all...

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   1. 73

      Miebakagh57posted 3 months agoin reply to this

      Farah, you're welcome.

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6. 84

   Misbah786posted 3 months ago

   I'm sick of submitting DMCAs for my stolen works; now, if I ever come across one, I just roll my eyes and move forward. I understand as writers, it is our right to claim if someone steals our work, but I think you just can't do anything about it; even if a DMCA works once or twice, how will you prevent it from happening again? The only copyrighted work you may have in this modern age is still the one recorded in your diary; until someone steals it, you can always claim it to be yours. Lol!
   When it's online, just forget that no one will steal it! As unpleasant and horrible as it may sound, it is true. I have learned to avoid getting into this fuss after filing 100s of DMCAs. It's always useless and time-consuming. At least for me!
   Best of luck if you file a DMCA.
   Much Love and Blessings! ❤️

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      eugbugposted 3 months agoin reply to this

      Irrespective of losing traffic, there's a great sense of satisfaction in getting content taken down. I take it personally if content is stolen.

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      1. 84

         Misbah786posted 3 months agoin reply to this

         I used to take it personally, but then I realized that there would always be some wonderful people who would undoubtedly report.
         And why not be satisfied with the fact that someone loves your work so much that they stole it? LOL
         Most sites/blogs that copy our work make little to no money and do not rank well on Google.
         Does their stealing of your content change the fact that it is your work? You know in your heart that it is yours. Right! What's wrong, then? Eventually, one day Google will take it down on some crazy genius' request! Keep the stress at bay!

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         1. 95

            eugbugposted 3 months agoin reply to this

            Maybe (Emoji with half smile and half downturned mouth)

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               Misbah786posted 3 months agoin reply to this

               A mixture of emotions. Lol!

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                  eugbugposted 3 months agoin reply to this

                  

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   2. 84

      Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

      Lol, I think that’s the best way to deal with it. As for filing a DMCA, well no I am not planning to go for such a thing. Just wanted to have a clear understanding of how it works since someone I know mentioned that the rule that says that once you create tangible content it automatically becomes your copyrighted content, does not apply unless you have legal registration and copyright. So I was wondering how this works for authors like us who are sitting in one country and submitting our content on a website that belongs to another country and which gets stolen from that website by someone from a third country. Complicated right? You are right. The only protected content is then that stays in our diary....and probably gets discovered once we die perhaps....like in the old days...lol
      Thank you, Misbah, for your insight into this matter.

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      1. 84

         Misbah786posted 3 months agoin reply to this

         Yes, the journals are always safe, and guess what? You can always keep them safe hidden from other people's sight, or if you're a mad genius like me, just shred them up after writing; no one will ever know or steal them! Peace of mind. lol!!

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         1. 84

            Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

            Hahahaha
            Cool!
            If I leave my content in my diary I am sure nobody’s ever going to make a discovery anyway as it will be thrown away in the trash with the kind of luck I have
            So I guess I will keep posting and hoping that nobody puts an evil eye on them

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            1. 84

               Misbah786posted 3 months agoin reply to this

               Hope is a powerful thing!
               
               “Hope can be a powerful force. Maybe there’s no actual magic in it, but when you know what you hope for most and hold it like a light within you, you can make things happen, almost like magic.” – Laini Taylor

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               1. 84

                  Farah N Huqposted 3 months agoin reply to this

                  What a beautiful quote! Thank you so much, Misbah!

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