It's happened to me before & it annoyed me but apart from a strongly worded email i could do nothing, what i love is they dont even edit it in the slightest, i've seen BBB on a post! idiots!!
How did you know your content had be re-published on that site hun? Any one of our posts gunna be being taken and re-used by someone else as their own, but I dont know how we'd ever find out?
Hi Jo..I only know if I am surfing the web or key in something I know I had as an exclusive on a search..and of course if other people are kind enough to let me know.
And Computer Girl...no response..and I won't get one either because I haven't filed a DCMA.
If you can get their address from the domain records, it sometime works if you send them an invoice for £100 for each copied piece. I've tried it a few times, and though haven't been paid, sometimes it gets the work taken down.
THis has happened to me as well, from a nigerian site! The worst of all? I couldn't get them beacuse the only email they had on the site was MINE! In fact, i'm getting all sorts of nigerian spamming crap in my junk folder! :(
I had a great big huge long comment here, with a link to a place for more, clearer, information about filing DMCA complaints (I've most definitely waded through all of that), but it appears that Blogger ate it.
Dang.
Short points: The web host is perhaps being less helpful than they could be, but there's a reason why they're not always proactive - and there are ways to give them enough ammunition without you tearing your hair
Check the website chillingeffects.org for more information on filing DMCA notices
Over the next few weeks I'll be publishing a series of posts on how to file proper copyright-violation notices (and including a form letter bloggers can use), how to protect your images, how to block image hotlinking, et cetera.
That site is awful! I'm not surprised you're annoyed at finding your blog posts on there.
It looks like they're scraping your blog posts through your Feedburner feed. (They're basically subscribing to yours and loads of other bloggers' feeds and automatically publishing it all on the ukasian site, instead of subscribing to the feed for personal use only). If you notice in their articles, there is still a link at the bottom of the article to your original blog post on BBB.
I just looked this up, and apparently there is a name for these fake blogs that just scrape other people's content - they're called "splogs".
You'll be able to see other potential splogs when you log into Feedburner. Look under "Uncommon Uses" in the Analyze tab.
You can try preventing splogs from stealing your content by turning off Yahoo Pipes (when logged in to your Feedburner account, go to the Publicize tab, then NoIndex in the left hand options. From there, check the option "Indicate that your feed should not be used by Yahoo! Pipes" and then activate this new setting. But make sure that you *uncheck* "Indicate that your feed should not be indexed by search engines" because you don't want to stop Google from finding your posts for their search results.
I don't know whether the above will stop all splogs from stealing your content, but it's worth a try. I've just gone through the above steps myself too.
I am training to be a solicitor and have done a bit of intellectual property law. I'm not fully trained so please don't take my advice as gospel, it's just what I know myself! First of all, I would not bother trying to fill in the Planet's own claim form. Particularly if it only applies to US law. You don't need to jump through their hoops to file a claim against them. They should not be investigating a claim against themselves anyway. Secondly, bringing a claim against them will obviously be very expensive. It might not be worth it if you don't make money from your blog, which I presume you don't. One option might be to file a class action against them with a group of other bloggers who have also had their copyright infringed. Another could be to file a claim with the Intellectual Property Office. You could also try the Citizens Advice Bureau. It is totally unfair and they know that by picking on bloggers they are unlikely to face any comeback, which is why they do it. If you can find any way to challenge them, please do.
Just out of curiosity, you have authorised your content on Wellsphere haven't you? As it has a link back I assume it is a legitimate use of your stuff.
14 comments:
It's happened to me before & it annoyed me but apart from a strongly worded email i could do nothing, what i love is they dont even edit it in the slightest, i've seen BBB on a post! idiots!!
How annoying. How did you find it on there? Hope you get a proper and professional rsponce this time x
How did you know your content had be re-published on that site hun? Any one of our posts gunna be being taken and re-used by someone else as their own, but I dont know how we'd ever find out?
xxx
Hi Jo..I only know if I am surfing the web or key in something I know I had as an exclusive on a search..and of course if other people are kind enough to let me know.
And Computer Girl...no response..and I won't get one either because I haven't filed a DCMA.
If you can get their address from the domain records, it sometime works if you send them an invoice for £100 for each copied piece. I've tried it a few times, and though haven't been paid, sometimes it gets the work taken down.
It is an annoying task though.
THis has happened to me as well, from a nigerian site!
The worst of all? I couldn't get them beacuse the only email they had on the site was MINE!
In fact, i'm getting all sorts of nigerian spamming crap in my junk folder! :(
I had a great big huge long comment here, with a link to a place for more, clearer, information about filing DMCA complaints (I've most definitely waded through all of that), but it appears that Blogger ate it.
Dang.
Short points:
The web host is perhaps being less helpful than they could be, but there's a reason why they're not always proactive - and there are ways to give them enough ammunition without you tearing your hair
Check the website chillingeffects.org for more information on filing DMCA notices
Over the next few weeks I'll be publishing a series of posts on how to file proper copyright-violation notices (and including a form letter bloggers can use), how to protect your images, how to block image hotlinking, et cetera.
Sorry, I forgot to say, please don't publish my help.
I don't particulary want to be known for this kind of thing. :-)
I am soft and cuddly deep down.
This has happened to me too! It grabbed stuff from tons of bloggers though; lotuspalace, pinksith, nonblonde, rougedeluxe. SO annoying.
OMG they don't even try to hide the fact that they're plagarising! How annoying... I hope after reading this post they stop :- [
It sucks so much that this happened to you.
I wish you luck sorting it out.
Hi Jane,
That site is awful! I'm not surprised you're annoyed at finding your blog posts on there.
It looks like they're scraping your blog posts through your Feedburner feed. (They're basically subscribing to yours and loads of other bloggers' feeds and automatically publishing it all on the ukasian site, instead of subscribing to the feed for personal use only). If you notice in their articles, there is still a link at the bottom of the article to your original blog post on BBB.
I just looked this up, and apparently there is a name for these fake blogs that just scrape other people's content - they're called "splogs".
You'll be able to see other potential splogs when you log into Feedburner. Look under "Uncommon Uses" in the Analyze tab.
You can try preventing splogs from stealing your content by turning off Yahoo Pipes (when logged in to your Feedburner account, go to the Publicize tab, then NoIndex in the left hand options. From there, check the option "Indicate that your feed should not be used by Yahoo! Pipes" and then activate this new setting. But make sure that you *uncheck* "Indicate that your feed should not be indexed by search engines" because you don't want to stop Google from finding your posts for their search results.
I don't know whether the above will stop all splogs from stealing your content, but it's worth a try. I've just gone through the above steps myself too.
Hope that helps.
I am training to be a solicitor and have done a bit of intellectual property law. I'm not fully trained so please don't take my advice as gospel, it's just what I know myself!
First of all, I would not bother trying to fill in the Planet's own claim form. Particularly if it only applies to US law. You don't need to jump through their hoops to file a claim against them. They should not be investigating a claim against themselves anyway.
Secondly, bringing a claim against them will obviously be very expensive. It might not be worth it if you don't make money from your blog, which I presume you don't. One option might be to file a class action against them with a group of other bloggers who have also had their copyright infringed. Another could be to file a claim with the Intellectual Property Office. You could also try the Citizens Advice Bureau.
It is totally unfair and they know that by picking on bloggers they are unlikely to face any comeback, which is why they do it. If you can find any way to challenge them, please do.
Just out of curiosity, you have authorised your content on Wellsphere haven't you? As it has a link back I assume it is a legitimate use of your stuff.
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