Intellectual Property on the Web — Know Your Rights

With burgeoning technology and its new uses in social media, the pressing question becomes what to do when your content is stolen. First, you noticed that I didn’t say “if” someone steals your content. That was on purpose. With the glut of information on the Internet, it’s now a matter of “when” not “if”.

The first step in learning about what you can do when someone steals your content is to know that it will happen, so the more prepared and informed you are, the better your chances of prevention and having a plan in place when they steal.

As the number of websites and blogs grow, the demand for content puts more pressure on website administrators, who may resort to stealing content in order to fill space on their sites and attract traffic. Website hijacking, as such an example, is on the rise. Most people do not realize it but this is a copyright violation. Copyright laws were designed to protect those in society whom we celebrate and honor, often representative of the lowest paid workers.

Here are a couple things that you can do:

1. Put a copyright notice in the box with your site’s information and licensing information in the footer so that any sites that scrape your feed will also carry with it correct attribution and information.
If the issue of people stealing your content doesn’t bother you, be sure and mark your website or blog accordingly with a copyright tag that says “help yourself”. Display a copyright notice, like one from Creative Commons, which says “free for the taking”.
If it does bother you, you can display a copyright policy notice to inform your readers that your content is yours - don’t touch. Or you can choose another copyright policy that says something between. Check out all the different copyright options at Creative Commons. They feature small logos, which designates which rights users have to use your content.

2. Draft a Cease and Desist Order.
Usually this legal looking document with a threat of monetary damages does the job. If it does not, then definitely contact the host server with the Cease and Desist Order, advising them to shut down the site if action to comply with the Cease and Desist Order is not seriously. Most hosts will jump to avoid such actions and will temporarily suspend the site.

A Cease and Desist Order can consist of some or all of the following:

• Notification of the copyright infringement and theft of intellectual property.
• A demand that they cease and desist from infringing your copyrights.
• A clear time table for response and deadline.
• Specific request to remove or destroy the page with the stolen content, or another move that will satisfy your need to have the theft stopped or controlled.
• Inform them that they are liable for any and all attorney’s fees, court costs, and damages (only valid for registered copyrighted work - so register your work now.)
• Inform them of any intentions you have to send copies of this Cease and Desist Order to their ISP, host, advertisers to let them know of the infringement.
• Clearly state you will take further legal action is this is not resolved to your satisfaction by the deadline.
• If you want, reinforce your statements with the contact information of your lawyer.
• Request for identities and URLs of all links to the stolen content.
• Demand for an accounting of all profits and income derived from use of the infringed content.
• Demand compensation for any and all profits and income derived from the copyright theft.
• Demand compensation due to lost profits, income, and reputation.
• Clearly state how they are to respond to you regarding this action, by phone, email, in writing (mail), and if they are to respond directly to you or to your legal representative or lawyer.

You should make the letter or email as official looking as possible. For emailed Cease and Desist Orders, make them simple, clear, and easy to read, with double spacing between paragraphs and a clear title. Do not use background art or stationery. Make it look like a memorandum.

Remember, your web-based content is considered intellectual property under this country’s copyright laws and are entitled to protection if you so choose.