Hi, Just discovered that someone has duplicated the whole sidebar contents of my blog and put it onto their own blog! (I have loads of information and useful links in the sidebar which has taken me quite a while to gather and a lot of effort and care. I also get an average of about 400 unique visitors a day coming to my blog). What can I do about this blatant content theft? Does blogger have options where they deal with issues like this, and ban/delete the perpetrator's account and blog? Thanks.
You have to file a DMCA with Google for them to remove it. Contact Blogger for the information where to send it, however the steps are the same as listed here: http://www.google.com/dmca.html (The Attn: info in the mailing address is different if it is a DMCA for Blogger.) Do note that they will send a copy to chillingeffects.org.
What exactly is in the sidebar? If it's just a collection of links and/or public domain content from other sites it may be ineligible for copyright (at least in the US; other countries may differ) in which case there's nothing you can do about it. If however it contains original text/images, then it obviously well be eligible and you can take action against the person that copied it.