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My newest SEO company's article (early April publishing) was taken almost word for word by someone else who is an SEO and taking credit for it! Stumbled on it by accident when I was reading an article of his somewhere else. I hadn't heard of him or the company before and took a look at his site. Compared it paragraph by paragraph...a few sentences changed here and there, but the verbiage and style are uniquely mine. Gotta admit that the first word that came to my mind was scumbag.
We're sitting here working up some sort of email to send him. Just ticks me off mostly, worse than the people who use your free article but don't use your author/copyright information as you ask them to.
Geesh! :(
I was just looking at an SEO site earlier that basically said they would buy Overture listings for you - without saying they were Overture listings.
Seemed pretty dirty to me.
Hope the ripoff artist gets what they deserve. You have my sympathies, too.
...and send an advance copy to get some first-hand feedback... through your lawyer.
I don't really care, because (except for the extremely well-written section on SEO) the site's pretty pathetic; bad design, typos, poor grammar, etc... and a PR0, maybe because of the "Links 2 You" page.
So while I'm not quite as steamed as WebRookie, that's my current complaint.
And, fathom, that's a great idea. I might do that myself. Maybe mention them as an example with a link... and then ask them for a reciprocal. :)
hmmm... seems like a good time to write a new article on plagiarism using your esteem colleague as a fair play example....and send an advance copy to get some first-hand feedback... through your lawyer.
Good idea...thanks. ;)
The knee-jerk reaction is getting mad and actually doing something stupid that makes the whole situation worst.
The entrepreneur is us all > is that little voice in your head which continuously pushes out ideas for us to act on.
Plagiarism is one of those things that allows you to take disadvantage and turn to an advantage simply because the moron immediately put you in the drivers seat... you are on the right side of the law, and that is a major advantage.
Plan your next moves... make sure you stay on the right side of the law.
WebRookie, this guy just gave you an enormous opportunity "particularly within his local area".
Strategize and captialize! :)
What I do is simply add the following to my article:
This article has been reprinted at the following sites:www.theystolemywork.com
www.contentnabbers.com
www.copyjackers.com
(Laisha, WebGuerrilla, Heini, Rumbas are queueing up ...this might end up matching a google update thread in size).
Grrrr! I was about to go to bed, then I read this!
I had a so-called expert from an extremely large internet magazine steal something I wrote awhile back.
I sent emails to him and cc'd about 10 high mucky-mucks at the big internet company. I wanted a reference and link.
He claimed, in email to a friend, that he was "too busy" and indicated that surely it's understandable that someone as busy as he is would understand his action.
They had him mention my name, but no link.
I went to a trademark/copyright lawyer who talked me into getting trademarked. Bluh!
He gave me a letter to send to the large internet company.
The plagarist removed the entire stolen portion, which made up more than 1/2 of "his" article. They kept him on at the large internet company, where he writes a monthly article. Now and then, I read his article and say to myself, "Hmm. Nice article. I wonder who wrote it?" :)
There is only so much you can get for straight copyright infringement.
Overall, I think digitalghost's answer (#11 in this thread) is the least expensive and least exhausting one!
How to deal with copyright violators
[webmasterworld.com...]
Google has a Digital Millennium Copyright Act page, and you can submit your complaint to them:
[google.com...]
It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act... and other applicable intellectual property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity.
Also, there are some sample complaints to Google on the Chilling Effects Clearinghouse site... www.chillingeffects.org.
This article has been reprinted at the following sites:www.theystolemywork.com
www.contentnabbers.com
www.copyjackers.com
Digitalhost - what a fine idea, may just do that. :)
I had a so-called expert from an extremely large internet magazine steal something I wrote awhile back.
That whole situation really stinks, Laisha. You gotta wonder how people can take credit for someone else's work, just unreal. Then to give you excuses when they get caught. :(
Robert, thanks for the thread info, really appreciate it.
My hubby thought we should offer to add them to our regular article submission list. ;) hehehe.
Once again, FOO-ites triumph over evil.
In fact it looks like a few people make some kind of living reproducing ideas from WebmasterWorld, but I just speculating at this point.
Enjoy the weekend, all. Get even on Monday.
Rich
Got an email today from the plagiarist (the CEO of the company) who copied the first part of our article. He said they'd add the second half to their site with credit to us. Then he asked if they listed our site on their website would we would respond with a reciprocal link! No, I didn't say "it would be a cold day in Hell", just didn't respond to that part of the email. ;)
