My first plagiarism issue - What should I do?

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by slashpix, Jun 24, 2007.

  1. #1
    Hi,

    First of all, I would like to apologize if this is wrong section but I decided to post it here since it about Directory Kit and it's about directories.

    I am ok when people want to post my articles on their blogs since they find it useful. But they ask me first and they also do not put entire article in their blog but just half of it or something.

    Today I have noticed that somebody copied two of my articles.

    Original Article 1 - Copy Cat 1

    Original Article 2 - Copy Cat 2

    I find it offensive because:

    • The owner did it without contacting me at all!
    • He/She Copied the ENTIRE articles and thus google might treat my article as duplicate content (or may not)
    • I spend one to two hours (don't remember now) writing it while somebody copies it in a second.
    • He/She provided the source "Taken from Directorykit.com", but did not even use <a href> tag and thus not everyone will visit it since people are lazy and will not paste the url into their browser.
    • He/She steals my royal visitors.
    • He/She changed the wording a bit so he/she could link to his or sponsor directories. I don't like it since he/she is saying ("Taken from Directorykit.com") that I said something that i did not really say. So people could get wrong impression about me.

    What should I do about it? I am not sure since this is my first plagiarism issue. All ideas are valuable.
     
    slashpix, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  2. britishguy

    britishguy Prominent Member

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    #2
    It might be the 10,000,000,000 Ten Billion time it has happened but its the 1st time for you ;)

    What can you do
    Contact and say cease and desist
    or
    Similar
    or
    Just forget it, and move on, it goes with the territory:eek:

    It sucks but this sh*t happens

    Perhaps worth adding

    Copyright abcltd 2007 anyone who wishes to copy any part of this article/index/text does so in the knowledge that it belongs to abcltd and we require you put on the copy display page that you issue a direct link but to abcltd and a confirmation credit that copright is abcltd 2007

    That might help a little or similar text :)
     
    britishguy, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  3. SteveTaylor

    SteveTaylor Active Member

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    #3
    There are couple of things you can do.

    1. contact the site owner
    2. contact the hosting company
     
    SteveTaylor, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  4. enQuira

    enQuira Peon

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    #4
    the guy has copied it manually I think, but you are syndicating your full text content for everybody to use. http://www.directorykit.com/feed/
    first thing you should do is go to options > reading > and only allow excerpts for rss feeds otherwise you are making it easy to duplicate your content.
     
    enQuira, Jun 24, 2007 IP
    slashpix likes this.
  5. Webray

    Webray Active Member

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    #5
    First, I'd be flattered to have that happen. But I do understand what you're saying. They didn't ask, they took!


    Some advice:
    * I think it will help and not hurt.
    * If you're having a problem with it, then contact the Webmaster and ask to remove, shorten or even put up a real link to your site.
    * Credit was given to your site, they don't always do this.
    * Your site was probably mistaken for some kind of article directory and this may be why the Webmaster copied the articles to begin with.
    * ...and so on.

    What you do is up to you. If you want your articles to be considered exclusive, then post a TOS with each article. Something like: Reprint rights reserved or Copying this article is not allowed or Reprinting requires permission. Do it at the bottom of each article you post.


    Good luck,
    Ray
     
    Webray, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  6. cormac

    cormac Peon

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    #6
    Contact their host directly with a cease and desist.

    *edit*

    If they are indexed within Google file a DMCA also.
     
    cormac, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  7. SasaVtec

    SasaVtec Notable Member

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    #7
    syndication full text content for everyone to use and allowing just excerpts doesnt make a difference, a person can steal the content either way, click the url that the feed provides and it takes you to the direct article
     
    SasaVtec, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  8. slashpix

    slashpix Banned

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    #8
    Thanks to mhamdi. He pointed out to me, who might be the owner. Contacting him at the moment....
     
    slashpix, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  9. enQuira

    enQuira Peon

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    #9
    I said that syndicating full text make it easier to automatically retrieve the content.
     
    enQuira, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  10. alang

    alang Notable Member

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    #10
    I think the owner of the blog is dp member. I remember saw he / she mention the blog before here at directories forum
     
    alang, Jun 24, 2007 IP
  11. marketjunction

    marketjunction Well-Known Member

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    #11
    I find showing up at their door brandishing a .357 works fairly well. ;)
     
    marketjunction, Jun 25, 2007 IP
  12. Kontent.solutions

    Kontent.solutions Peon

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    #12
    I would mail them asking 'em to put a live link to my site if it was me ;).

    Free publicity + Channel Visitors + Back links == All in my favor !!

    Regards,
    ~G
     
    Kontent.solutions, Jun 25, 2007 IP