Website copied my webpage content

Is it worth wasting my time to launch a DMCA complaint through Adsense?

[jcmiras]

I just found out just today that one of my (high ranking) webpage has been converted into PDF and posted at the said website. I understand that it might be a different person who uploaded the file, but can I held this website liable for copyright infringement? And of course, is it worth wasting time? What do you think is the success rate? Thanks.

[edited by: coopster at 11:04 am (utc) on Mar. 29, 2009]
[edit reason] removed url TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]

[asinah]

Thanks for letting people like me know. I would file a DMCA with the website directly. As far as I know (I could be wrong) the website is responsible for it and not the users, specially if the site has adsense on it and makes clearly money from other people's content.

[himalayaswater]

Yes, you need to send DMCA and most operator would take down your file. Some operator like wordpress.com, known to provide great and quick support. When I sent them DMCA via email, I got response withing 30 minutes and they removed blog from their network.

[jcmiras]

Thanks Asinah. They do have adsense on it.

Actually I`m very generous with it comes to copying my web page content. What I only ask is put a simple note in their website where did they copied that article. I`m not asking for a live link just a text of the URL, enough to let their readers know that the article that they are reading was just copied from other website and they don't have authority over it.

Anyway, I tried to email them first to remove the file. If nothing happens, then, let's see....

[jcmiras]

himalayaswater, your experience is very encouraging. Thanks, Thanks.

[rash]

Trying to contact them and letting them know that they have done a mistake and how it affects you is much better than filing a DMCA straight away

[martinibuster]

If the site is legit, has contact info on their site, including a phone number, and the domain isn't regged with an anonymous proxy then there's a good chance you can contact them and get them to take it down amicably without creating enemies.

If there's no way to contact them then they have given you no choice but to follow through with a DMCA. But even a proxy registration has an email addy listed in the whois info. In my experience most people respond positively to an email or phone call.

I've been a victim of university speakers posting my content online attributed to themselves (with links to my competitors), of amazon.com's askville illegally hosting my content, and even google's blogger hosting the same content, all with the effect that google doesn't recognize snippets from those pages as originating from my site. So it's absolutely critical to check for plagiarizers and to get them to take down your content. In my experience contacting them directly will get a faster response.

[jcmiras]

Thank you very much for the advice. I emailed them in as friendly manner as I can and they responded positively - they removed the copy of my webpage in their website. I`m happy that they hear my complain.