Help! having difficulty with a stolen article?

1. 75

   Cardiaposted 6 years ago

   I wrote and published an article on how to gain Instagram followers a few years ago. It was one of my better performing Hubs, always getting views and clicks. But then the traffic dropped suddenly, and I saw that someone had copied and pasted it word for word onto their website (https://smmpoint.com/followers-and-likes-cheap/)
   I tried filing a DMCA complaint and I even got as far as to contact the website's host, who then told me they had the page removed. Every time that I went to the site to look for the article, a 404 page would come up.
   Somehow it seems as if the person has reactivated the page, and the stolen article has appear again.
   
   I sent an email to the website's contact page and a person called Naeem replied with poor English, saying that as the article was written in 2014, could I put HIS site as a link on my Hub? He then said he wanted to buy the article from me.
   I told him absolutely not, that it was my work that HE stole and he needs to remove it. He has not replied since.
   
   It's very infuriating, I'm at a loss of what to do. Is there anything that i can do to guarantee that it is taken down?

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2. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   Resend the takedown notice to the host and to Google.  There is generally no point in debating the issue with plagiarists.

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3. 87

   Marisa Wrightposted 6 years ago

   When this happens to me, I'll look at how much my Hub is earning and consider whether it's worth selling.  Let's say the Hub is making around $2 per month, - even if it has a lifetime of 5 years, that's only $120.  So I'd reply offering to sell it for $100.
   
   Usually, the result is that they don't buy it - but I have had two sales, so it's always worth trying.
   
   In this case, I doubt he'd be willing to spend that kind of money - so just resend to the host, and mention that it was removed and they've reposted it.   It's possible they'll close down his blog altogether.

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4. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   Given that this site sells social media follows and other ToS-breaking stuff, I wouldn't touch them with the proverbial barge pole.

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   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      If you sell them the article for a good enough price, you can tell them NOT to credit you as the author.

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5. 69

   stephenteacherposted 6 years ago

   If the site is out of the US, a DMCA does not work. That's US law.
   
   China, india, turkey, russia, pakistan, iran, well just about 75% of the world could give a rip about US copyright law.
   
   Google might pull it from their search, but it's still online.
   
   If the host is in the US, they might pull it, but they could then host overseas.
   
   Google does not hate copied content, contrary to many who believe that.
   
   Wikipedia is nothing BUT duplicate content....and they encourage people to us it.
   
   Their search results are also full of stolen content. They love wikileaks.
   
   Heck even amazon has boatloads of the same text as other commerce sites.
   
   If your stuff was on your own website, it would not matter. You just do more things better, and you have no problem.
   
   Unfortunately, hubpages needlessly freaks out about duplicate content. They are overly cautious. Maybe they think they will take some big hit or something if it happens too much.
   
   For the average person, there is just not much you can do.

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   1. 87

      Marisa Wrightposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      It may  not be called a DMCA in other countries, but there are equivalent laws in most developed countries, so there is a lot you can do about it.
      
      The trick is to find out who the host is, then Google that name and the word "abuse" or "copyright" or "DMCA" (e.g. "GoDaddy abuse").  One of those searches should lead you to their page on how to report a problem.  Follow the instructions.  It works.
      
      It probably won't work in third world countries, in China or in Russia.

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   2. 96

      theraggededgeposted 6 years agoin reply to this

      That's not true. Personally speaking, I have had many stolen articles removed by going directly to the webhost. I agree Russia and China are a problem, but those sites are so bad that traffic wouldn't be diverted there in the first place.

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6. 83

   psycheskinnerposted 6 years ago

   I think people who don't want to bother like to think there would be no point in trying.  But in my experience the great majority of plagiarized material can be removed or neutralized (e.g. removed from search listings), and that does remove competition that is bleeding your profits.  Whether the gain is sufficient to be worth the effort is a personal choice--but no need to assume the grapes are sour.
   
   I tend to ding online duplicates immediately, but ebooks are so rampantly plagiarized I open the occasional "hunting season" to thin out the listings but can't be bothered doing it all the time.

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7. 75

   Cardiaposted 6 years ago

   Hello everyone -
   Great news - after sending him various emails (again) he took the article down. He didn't even apologize or admit that it was stolen. It was a strange situation, having to negotiate with a plagiarizer for something that was rightfully mine, but all's well that ends well.
   
   Thanks to everyone for giving advice!

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