Content Theft - CC License?

Discussion in 'Legal Issues' started by blacknight, Jun 1, 2007.

  1. #1
    I recently ran into issues with someone stealing my content:

    http://www.mneylon.com/blog/archives/2007/05/26/content-theft-what-to-do/

    I didn't want to name and shame at first, but after I realised that the perpetrator didn't care about my copyright I felt it best to name them:

    http://www.mneylon.com/blog/archives/2007/05/31/domainnewscom-steal-other-sites-content/

    Would a creative commons have made any difference?

    I know that I do not have to put any form of copyright notice on the content, as it is automatically covered, but I was wondering if anyone had had any experience with this
     
    blacknight, Jun 1, 2007 IP
  2. adamjthompson

    adamjthompson Well-Known Member

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    #2
    The most effective thing you can do is contact their webhost with DMCA notice. That should get it down in short order, in my experience. You can contact the site owner directly, but in my experience, 80% of the people who violate copyrights could care less if you ask them to take it down.
     
    adamjthompson, Jun 1, 2007 IP
  3. blacknight

    blacknight Well-Known Member

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    #3
    That might work except the site is owned by a company that has its own data center, so a standard takedown notice would be ignored and my DMCA seems to have been ignored :(
     
    blacknight, Jun 1, 2007 IP
  4. inworx

    inworx Peon

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    #4
    The server may be owned.

    Can I get the domain name?
     
    inworx, Jun 2, 2007 IP
  5. blacknight

    blacknight Well-Known Member

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    #5
    What do you mean?

    See my original post - I've linked to the posts on my own blog covering it all in detail
     
    blacknight, Jun 2, 2007 IP
  6. Crusader

    Crusader Peon

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    #6
    A creative commons license wouldn't have made any difference at all. As far as I could gather most of the available CC licenses could mistakingly give more rights to people than the copyright owner would have liked. For example the strictest one (Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works) still allows a possible loophole for someone to repost your work on their personal blog...

    You could try filing a DMCA with Google and the other major search engines, as well as Adsense (I'm assuming the site is using Adsense to profit from your content). That way you could at least get the stolen content removed from the SE indexes and prevent the thief from profiting using Adsense.
     
    Crusader, Jun 2, 2007 IP
  7. inworx

    inworx Peon

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    #7
    It might be a dedicated box... :rolleyes:
     
    inworx, Jun 3, 2007 IP
  8. blacknight

    blacknight Well-Known Member

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    #8
    I still don't get what you are trying to say.

    The people who run a site stole my content. They also happen to own the data center that the site is run from, so issuing takedown notices won't really work

    What are you trying to suggest?
     
    blacknight, Jun 3, 2007 IP
  9. cormac

    cormac Peon

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    #9
    Unfortunately the site in question isn't using Adsense.

    BlackNight - did you see they removed the Irish Independent article?
     
    cormac, Jun 3, 2007 IP
  10. blacknight

    blacknight Well-Known Member

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    #10
    Have you seen their rate card?

    Yes. One of the Independent staff contacted them about it and told them to take it down or face the consequences
     
    blacknight, Jun 3, 2007 IP
  11. cormac

    cormac Peon

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    #11
    I have and its a shocker for a scraper site.

    I was wondering why they removed the Independent article so fast. Makes me wonder why remove one article and not yours.
     
    cormac, Jun 3, 2007 IP
  12. blacknight

    blacknight Well-Known Member

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    #12
    They're playing off the idea that they get traffic from their main site

    I'm not sure if they've even sold ads from other companies on there. All I ever see are ads from the "mother ship"
    If I sent you all the emails that were exchanged (though I already published most of them already) you'd see why.

    These guys think they are a law unto themselves.

    I don't have the economic clout of the Independent News and Media Group behind me, so they may not have thought my threats were real enough for them.
     
    blacknight, Jun 3, 2007 IP
  13. Crusader

    Crusader Peon

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    #13
    Oops, I was in a hurry when I typed my reply and didn't have time to check out the offending site.
     
    Crusader, Jun 3, 2007 IP