This year I've had 5 sites steal my unqiue content from my sites and i was that fed up of it that i sued one guy for breach of copyright. Because they were self hosting I simply looked them up on whois and found their address and got my solicitor to write to them informing them we were instigating legal action. Got a court date quite quickly but the individual concerned offered $4000 (£2000) not to take things further. Bonus! The secret was that I keep copies of all of the content i create in a word file, which has a date stamp. This is proof of when i created it and any court in the UK would have easily found in my favour. I'm laughing all the way to the bank.....
@lightlysalted: first off, congrats!!! I think you are the only one smart enough to use the date stamp... you'll be amazed at how many people don't know about it OR use it!
Were they merchants stealing your content or just regular websites? I would have just played dumb if someone tried to sue me to stealing content. Congrats on the win!
@ C.Whyte: neglegence is overused anymore... and luckily morons can't get away with it as easily as before However, when I write ANYTHING, I always attach a brief resource cited at the end of all my work. It's sad how many people can't come up with original content anymore, and to make matters worse, websites/busiensses that want to steal content are the ones who are too damn cheap to even buy a writer that would get paid $1 for 400 words for above-par quality.
How does it work? I mean, if you put all of your contents in the same word doc, isnt it going to just show only the last modified date? ?? @_@'' good job though. You can do alot with that money.
data stamping is something every writer should use, to do this choose "document properties" from the print tab in options(I'm using Word 03). This won't put the date on the document, but will print out a page of details that you can attach to the last page of the document. Such details include time/date/change version/author/directory, etc. If you are trying it and for some reason you date stamp keeps changing from the date of that document to the current date try this: Insert the date field, then click on the field with the cursor, hit Ctrl+F11 to lock the field to prevent changes. To unlock use Ctrl+Shift+F11. Then, Edit: Lock the field before you save the new document. Sorry if these directions were half-assed... I'm doing this all from the top of my head. As well, just use help with Word and search for date stamp... I'm sure somethign will pop up (as long as it's not that damn paperclip! XD)
LOL! Awesome work! I like your sly comment at the end made me laugh! "I'm laughing all the way to the bank....."
No problem everyone... again I'd probably do some research to make sure everything is correct. @license: Paperclip = evil (I still can remember nightmares of early Word programs)
How is a user's computer generated time stamp proof of anything? Wouldn't that be easily changeable just by adjusting your computers date? I would not put a whole lot of faith in a user's computer time stamp. It would be something to consider, but it is by no means dispositive.
How much did it cost you in legal fees and the time you wasted? I wouldn't quit your day job just yet.