Hello everyone, I have many websites (somewhere in the hundreds) all with unique articles that were written specifically for those websites. I have the typical "Copyright 2004-2008 Sitename.Com" on my websites, but is that enough to enforce my rights to the articles? What else can I do in order to make sure if anyone copies this content from my website and republishes it, that they are 'made' take it down when contacted?
Pretty much you have done everything that is practical. One suggestion would be to burn a cdr with the files of the sites. The files on a cdr can not be modified so the date of the file is your proof of when it was created. Everytime you open one on your computer the dates get modified. This is only slightly more effective than mailing yourself a letter. Nothing is really going to stop the rip-off guys except a DCMA notice to their host. That means you have to catch them first.
Well, I think I still have around 40% of the original .ZIP files, so back them up correct? I am running wordpress as the CMS on most of my sites.. should I just backup those as well? (I don't know how exactly that would help..) When I do find someone using my content, I should contact the owner of the website first - then their webhost, domain registrar, and then lastly google adsense or whatever other ad server they are using? Are there any good examples online of typical take down notices I should send? Is there anything else I can put on my website that says " this is my work, do not use on any other website, period" lol. I never did this on my own before I usually paid others to do my dirty work - but as I am trying to reduce costs, I have to do more of this on my own Oh, is archive.org or waybackmachine helpful at all when contacting web hosts etc?
Can be very helpful. Have you changed your avatar? Did you not use Dracula or something a few months back?
All of this is incorrect. The old version of this was the "send a sealed letter to yourself" that has a postal date. It's only potential proof (not absolute) that you created something on a certain date. If you want no question about your copyright then file it with your country's copyright office. It costs money. You can update your filing and many do so regularly. Otherwise it's a question of who created it first and whether it is unique or a product of access to your web site.
I think it is much less effective. You are not proposing that people rely on a self-set computer date. For many reasons people often have the date set incorrectly on their computer. That would correspond to the creation date on the files. Someone could just set back the date on their computer, touch the files, and Voilà , an earlier creation date than reality. I think a better way would be to involve a third party to confirm the date. (like the post office in the mailing example). There are many ways, and short of registration they are all just additional evidence in your favor. You might try looking up a cached page of your content through Google. When you do you will see this: This is G o o g l e's cache of http://www.YOURSITE.com/ as retrieved on Mar 25, 2008 11:53:36 GMT. with your content below. You can print that page as a PDF. You will have a print out of your content, through Google with their date. While it will not be the creation date, it may, help prove you owned and used the content by a certain date.
I think what I was saying that copyright enforcement is crapshoot no matter how you do it unless you file it. Anything you place on the web is going to get copied and spun if you are lucky. We are all in agreement here.
Thanks everyone for the information in here What my biggest (but not only) concern is about the content being taken from my website, and the potential of search engines then finding my site with "duplicate content" on it. I think that would Pee me off the most (besides they took my content and never asked - duh) but I would truley hate for that to happen. This would definitely help. But when I go to contact content scrappers and stealers, I know that google changes their cache every now and then (so that it gets updated)... How would I use that to prove to them that it's mine (some of my content has been online since early 2005 - but googles cache is last month)? That's mainly what im keen to find out.
You're suffering from the same problem everyone else is. Until there are harsher punishments for wantonly stealing content outright as you're complaining of there will be no easy solution. Take a look at the terrible spam problem. I feel like I should be entitled to serious remuneration from offenders for the life stolen from me in trying to sort out my junk box that is filled with thousands of unsolicited emails each week. I have to do so or take the risk that an important quick reply will not be seen from someone new or not on my whitelist.
Unfortunately, I think archive.org is the way to go for your older content. Although it is not much different than just saying you own the material, you could put together a legal declaration or affidavit signed under penalty of perjury which might help convince some companies that your complaint is legitimate. As an aside, you know that I have tons of celebrity sites as well. The problem I see is that so much of the info posted is factual and just written in a slightly different manner or order or adds something or deletes something. If you are talking about bios I think you will have very little success. If you are talking about more substantive writing, that is a different story.