Copycat Content Burgulars and How to Deal with Them

One last point here is from time to time you will find people copying your article and not giving you credit for the articles with a link. Worrying about this for the most part is a waste of time. What can you really do about it? I have found a much better use of my time to not worry about these deadbeat article thieves and continue to get more links through articles and out other methods for getting links.

On the other hand, if you chose to fight the battle there is a process. Once you discover someone has ripped-off your content, which is easily revealed by setting up a Google Alert for each article published, you can set up a spreadsheet with the url , the copied article title, when and where the article was originally published and the date that you sent the "letter" describing the copyrighting infringement and request with instructions to rectify the infringement.

I have developed a form letter to use. I search for an email address attached to the website under "Contact Us" or use their form if one is provided. Sometimes you will hit a dead end here as spammers usually fly under the radar. Plan B is to check the "Who Is" data for the domain registration and sometimes you can find an email address there.

If you hit a dead end here, you can always refer to Google's terms of service, which requires submitting the proof of the infringement. Google will eventually ban or blacklist the site if you can prove copyright violation and report them to their hosting company.

Below is an actual letter that I send out to someone in violation of copyrighting infringement:

10/24/2009 copyright infringement post to the following website that is using our article without giving credit to the author.

http://rhonson-ng.com/green-bay-packers-the-glory-that-once-roared-in-lambeau-field#comment-9676

Freddie Brister Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.

October 24th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
This article was orginally published at http://ezinearticles.com/?Green-Bay-Packers—The-Glory-That-Once-Roared-in-Lambeau-Field&id=1610213
and it is against the publishers TOS to remove the bio and links. Please make amends as I am sure this must have been an oversight on your behalf and are not aware of the copyright infringement laws and other hosting and google penalties for doing this.

http://ezinearticles.com/terms-of-service.html

http://en.wordpress.com/tos/

http://www.copyright.gov/

Thanks for your prompt compliance.

Freddie Brister
Author

***In my next post, I will share the results of the letter.