I have been scraped/copied - what to do?

[webpro00801]

I don't know what forum to post this in but just now while searching for my domain name on Google I found a site that obviously scraped a lot of my content and is serving it calling it "news". Where do you start with something like this - other than contacting them and telling them to remove it?
Thanks -

[kazecoder]

Contacting them politely and asking them to remove it or even credit your site would be a good first move. Then I would result to legal aid. I don't know enough about the "internet law" these days but it probably depends on the amount of money you want to spend to defend your content. I would be anxious to hear your results.

[monkeythumpa]

You can send them (by certified mail for a paper trail) a Notice of Infringement of Copyrighted Work. Depending on their response you might want to persue legal action. Then again, unless you can prove you have suffered damages, you can't sue.

[allbusiness.com...]

[Lorel]

There is a faster, and often more effective way than going the legal route.

If, after you contact them and they don't remove your content. write to their hosting company (see their Whois Data for their domain). All hosting companies are bound by law to not allow copyright infringement to go on and it has been my experience they will contact the owner and insist on the data being removed or they will remove the site entirely.

I just wrote a host this morning re one of their clients having my content in a redirect and a frame on their site and he wrote back within a few hours and said he would remove their whole site if they don't take it down within 24 hours. and This was a host in another county also.

[incrediBILL]

File a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) complaint with his web host, google, etc. as fast as possible. If you actually filed a copyright on the material you can get an intellectual property attorney to unload his wallet. If you didn't, the DMCA protects you to the extent that the web host will shut him down immediately to exercise the "safe haven" clause in the DMCA, otherwise they can be named in an legal proceedings.

Welcome to the Internet.

Enjoy your stay.

[webpro00801]

Thanks everyone for your ideas -