How to report stolen content?

[sodani]

Anyone have this experience?

Someone lifted the entire content of my site and is driving traffic to it using yahoo and google paid search.

[DewChugr]

Try to contact their host, that may be the quickest way to solve this. Explain the situation. Most IPs would not tolerate this.

[techiemon]

Sodani,

When and if you take the advice given, please post a follow up as to the result. I am having a similar problem right now, though it is not quite as severe as what you are talking about.

[econtent]

I had my content stolen in the past. I created a subscription-based database which I previously sold as a print book. One of my competitors, in another country, put the print book online. I knew something was going on because my sales dropped dramatically. I did a google search and discovered what was going on. So, here is my advice on this topic.
1) contact the owner/webmaster and explain what is going on and request they remove the content immediately.
2) If they do not take the content down, email again (also email the hosting company.)
3) If they still do not take the content down, talk to a lawyer. (If they are in same country you can go through small claims.)
4) The laywer will send a cease and desist letter.
5) if that does not work, sue them for copyright infringement. (If the person lives in England you can sue them through the Canadian courts.) You will have to find a laywer in their country.

Hope that helps,
Tina

[Syzygy]

This might be helpful - an excellent thread from the forum library specifically dealing with content theft [webmasterworld.com].

Syzygy

[techiemon]

econtent,

There is one thing everyone should be aware of though. In order to sue them, you MUST have a REGISTERED copyright. I have found this out recently by dealing with several companies who took my content, they refuse to respond and even their hosting companies say unless the content can be proven with a registered copyright, they can't do anything.

[VegasRook]

There is one thing everyone should be aware of though. In order to sue them, you MUST have a REGISTERED copyright. I have found this out recently by dealing with several companies who took my content, they refuse to respond and even their hosting companies say unless the content can be proven with a registered copyright, they can't do anything.

In the USA, this is not correct. You can sue someone for copyright issues regardless of registration status. Registering your content helps back up your claim and gives you extra benefits, but it's not a required precursor to initiating a civil suit.

I think what you meant to say is that the companies you tried to talk with did not take you seriously. However, you can file against them in small claims court if you desire.

[opifex]

Not new. I have had sites ( my own and clients')stolen or rebranded, etc. many times. The suggestion to contact the offender's host is by far the best recourse. This has worked in the past, but there are instances where people want to go to court. Your best evidence is of course your original server files.
Of course, thievery and plagerism are VERY sincere forms of flattery!
In one case a couple of years ago, two of my local competitors were rebranding my entire domain through use of forum links and links from within the doomains .... I put frame breakers and frame enforcers with timeouts sufficient to load the offending pages ..... The stopped the thefts. In another case an offender was copying pages and republishing ... she was lazy .... so I put watermarks in the fotos and the occasional redirect. Foto thieves can be taught a lesson by changing the foto to something "not so nice" if the are simply robbing directly from your domain.
We CANNOT stop the thievery across the web. If it can be seen, it can be copied.