Another frickin' copycat....

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   FatFreddysCatposted 9 years ago

   Thanks to HP's handy dandy "little red C" icon, I learned that some choad copied & pasted one of my best-performing hubs on his WordPress blog and passed it off as his own work.
   
   I don't usually do this but after filing a DMCA I left a comment under the article on the copyists' page:
   
   "Hi there! Thanks for copying this article wholesale from my blog at HubPages without asking permission or giving me proper credit. I’m very glad you liked it enough to steal it and pass it off as your own original work. Rest assured, the proper authorities have been notified."
   
   ...it sez my comment "is awaiting moderation" which means it'll probably never be visible, but the possibilities keep me entertained.

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      calculus-geometryposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good artists borrow, great artists steal, as Picasso would say.

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      peachpurpleposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      I had seven hubs copied by people at expertscolumn, i had complained but was ignored

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   GiftsByDianaposted 9 years ago

   How terrible !  As if our work wasn't difficult enough.

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   ChristinSposted 9 years ago

   It's the never ending story around here it seems.  I'll find things scraped often long before it ever trips a filter here.  Sadly, content scraping is a great way for lazy people to make money for other people's work.  I know it's frustrating, but the best we can do is continually fight back and file those DMCA's properly with the right folks to get these sites taken down.  I've found numerous blogger blogs that have this problem and every time the issue has been resolved quickly. 
   
   The only time sites don't comply with DMCA usually is when they are run/hosted in different countries that aren't bound by our copyright laws.  In that instance, there isn't really a lot to be done, but those sites are honestly probably not stealing that much traffic.

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   Marcy Goodfleischposted 9 years ago

   This is so frustrating, and it takes a ton of time. I'm thankful for the 'red C' alerts, too, but was dismayed to find one hub copied 20 times (yes, exactly 20) - several were repeats on the same blog or site.
   
   Several hubs are being stolen by bloggers on WordPress, and one hub was stolen by someone called "Naughty (female name)" on a site that offers live video performances for select audiences.  How flattering! 
   
   To its credit - the 'adult' site responded immediately & removed not only my content but that 'performer's' entire 'blog.'  In my report to them (I actually called them & also emailed) I told them I'd spotted some other content from HP on her 'blog.'  I guess she's too busy doing other things to write her own content.

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   jansharesposted 9 years ago

   I feel you, FatFeeddysCat. I wanted to do the same but I didn't want to join the site which is the only way you can leave a comment. I sent my DCMA twice, to no avail. This is the first time I've filed and never even received a reply. I didn't see any ads so I've decided to let it go, don't know what else to do. The name of the site is handandfootcare. It says it's registered with godaddy but they wrote me back and said no, it's with wordpress, I think. Anyway, tired.

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      Barbara Kayposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      janshares, I've got two copied at the same site. I haven't had any luck getting mine removed either.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 9 years ago

   Got an e-mail from Wordpress today sayin' that they've "disabled access" to the infringing material. So whoo-hoo! The system (occasionally) works!!

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      jansharesposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Great news.

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   Carola Finchposted 9 years ago

   I had a similar experience.  A blogger copied my work and I filed a DMCA complaint.  The parent company actually shut down the blogger's website.  I did not like the slightly nasty email I got from them though.  They warned me that the blogger could "appeal" my complaint.  Appeal blatant plagerism? I would like to see them try.

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   FatFreddysCatposted 9 years ago

   Yeah, the e-mail I got from WordPress said the same thing, but if this doofus wants to try appealing, I say bring it on...
   
   The majority of his blog entries consist of song lyrics from Megadeth, Pantera, Metallica, etc., etc. ... I'm sure that those bands or their publishers would be interested to know that he's posting their lyrics without their permission, it would be such a shame if someone dropped a dime on the guy...hahahaha

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   2besureposted 9 years ago

   This is an internet plague!  I have seen whole websites copied and passed off as their own.  When you shut one person down, they pop up somewhere else.

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