RICK REA: Helping You Grow Through Online Marketing
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Social Media News
    • SEO Marketing News
    • Digital Trends News
    • Photography News
    • Mobile Marketing
    • Business News
    • Gadget News
    • Printing News
  • Contact
  • About
  • Subscribe


How to Protect Your Blog Content From Copyright Infringement

6/7/2017

0 Comments

 
http://ift.tt/2rTTj8k

How to Protect Your Blog Content From Copyright Infringement

http://ift.tt/2sRRFBx

social media how toWant to protect your blog content from being stolen?

Wondering how to respond when your blog content is scraped?

As a blogger, you put hours into creating original content. Having it stolen can be frustrating and upsetting.

In this article, you’ll discover four steps to legally safeguard your blog content from copyright infringement, including what to do when your content gets stolen.

How to Protect Your Blog Content From Copyright Infringement by Sarah Kornblet on Social Media Examiner.

How to Protect Your Blog Content From Copyright Infringement by Sarah Kornblet on Social Media Examiner.

#1: Protect Your Content and Website With Terms of Use and Disclaimers

Terms of Use is a website policy (which sometimes is also called Terms of Service or Terms & Conditions) that protects your blog content (and your business) by outlining what visitors can and cannot do with the information on your site.

You may think the necessity of saying something like, “You agree that you will not modify, copy, reproduce, sell, or distribute any content in any manner or medium without permission” is obvious. However, having this legal language on your website strengthens your position when someone does steal your content.

Your website is often the storefront of your business, and specific legal policies will protect not only your content but your business and income as well. As a blogger, keep in mind that although you may not own the content that readers share in your Comments section, you still have the right to manage it so your Terms should outline this as well.

To create the text for your Terms, you can hire an attorney who understands websites and online businesses (not all do) or buy a template from an attorney or company that offers attorney-drafted templates. Do not copy terms from another business because that’s copyright infringement. Also, do not try to write your own; lawyers went to school for several years to learn this stuff for a reason.

After you have your website Terms, put your Terms in the footer on every page of your website, including your blog.

A website often displays its Terms of Use in the footer.

A website often displays its Terms of Use in the footer.

You also want to have Disclaimers. These vital paragraphs (often included within the Terms) protect you from liability (that is, getting sued) should someone misuse any content you post on your blog. Bloggers need to make it clear that their content is information they’re putting into the world and they aren’t liable for what readers happen to do (or not do) with that information.

Think of the reader who uses a health blogger’s green smoothie recipe and ends up hospitalized. Obviously, the hospitalization is not the blogger’s fault, but people have certainly been sued for less. With Terms and Disclaimers, you protect your blog content and have easy access to evidence of your business policies should you need it.

#2: Register Your Copyright

Registering your blog posts with the U.S. Copyright Office gives you legal grounds to bring a lawsuit for copyright infringement. If you’re familiar with copyright basics, you know that copyright protection is automatic and your posts are YOUR property the minute you publish each post on your blog. However, to have legal standing to bring a lawsuit, you must register that post with the U.S. (or other) government.

To register on the U.S. copyright registration portal, submit an application, payment, and your blog posts. You can register a whole pile at once. Many bloggers get into the habit of registering a bundle of posts every quarter. The cost is minimal ($35-$55) and comes with big peace of mind.

Use the registration portal on Copyright.gov to guide you through the process.

Use the registration portal on Copyright.gov to guide you through the process.

If you don’t register your blog posts, your recourse if someone steals your blog posts is somewhat limited to a cease and desist letter or the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). (You’ll learn about those options in a moment.) However, if you register your posts, you can bring an action in court and automatically be awarded statutory damages (read: money, money, money).

Copyright infringement is a serious crime, and registering your blog posts gives you rights against (and monetary reward from) anyone who steals your content. Awards for copyright infringement can range from $750 to $30,000, or even as high as $150,000 under certain circumstances such as willful infringement.

#3: Send a Cease and Desist Letter

In the online world, content and images get taken and used all the time. Whether someone does it on purpose or by accident (still not sure how that happens, but some people claim it does), your first step is to reach out and ask them to stop, assuming you know who did it.

You can send a simple email to the perpetrator outlining the content taken. Often the realization that they’ve been “caught” is enough to resolve the issue.

The first line of defense is an email, asking the perpetrator to stop using your content.

The first line of defense is an email, asking the perpetrator to stop using your content.

If sending an email doesn’t work, the next step would be to send a formal cease and desist letter. This letter is a bit heavier-handed than an email, and can be drafted and sent by a lawyer. You don’t have to hire a lawyer to do this, but sometimes bringing in a lawyer results in a quick takedown of the stolen content.

A cease and desist letter will specifically outline and reference the posts taken (with links, summaries, etc.) and usually give a 72-hour window to comply. If you’ve registered your content, you can include your copyright registration number in the letter. If the letter doesn’t work, you can proceed to the DMCA.

#4: Use the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

Fortunately, laws in place protect bloggers and their content. From almost the beginning of the Internet (okay, not quite that far back, in the late 1990s), the U.S. government passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, or DMCA. This law contains all sorts of fun stuff, and the main provision that protects content is the Notice and Takedown rule.

With this rule, if someone takes your blog post and puts it somewhere else on the Internet without permission (whether that’s another platform like YouTube, or another website), you as the owner can let the platform or web host know via a takedown notice and the content will be removed.

If a content scraper is involved or you aren’t sure who’s behind the infringement, you can search on Whois and figure out the owner and/or the domain host. After you know the platform or host where your posts are landing after someone or a content scraper swipes them, you can contact the owner or host directly. Some sites like YouTube have DMCA takedown procedures; others you can email.

YouTube has takedown procedures you can follow if someone infringes on your copyright.

YouTube has takedown procedures you can follow if someone infringes on your copyright.

The DMCA provides “safe harbor” language for platforms and hosting services. As long as they comply with certain rules in the law (e.g., to have a designated agent for takedown notices), then they won’t be held responsible for hosting infringed material. The good news is that this information must be public on their website so you know whom to contact, as shown in the YouTube takedown procedures above.

Social media platforms and other websites are usually not interested in hosting stolen content, so often the takedown process is successful in getting your content back where it belongs: on your blog.

Conclusion

Having these four steps in your back pocket will help you prepare should that day come when your posts end up somewhere else without your permission.

Note: Nothing in this article is intended to be legal advice and is for educational purposes only.

What do you think? What tips will help you further protect your blog content? Do you have any experience successfully taking down content stolen from your blog? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

How to Protect Your Blog Content From Copyright Infringement by Sarah Kornblet on Social Media Examiner.

How to Protect Your Blog Content From Copyright Infringement by Sarah Kornblet on Social Media Examiner.





Social Media

via http://ift.tt/eZnnjC

June 6, 2017 at 10:06PM

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    Amazing WeightLoss

    Click Here!

    Categories

    All
    Analyze Top Competitors
    Anti-Abuse
    Apple
    Apple Watch
    Blog Posts
    Brainstorm
    Brand Awareness
    Communications
    Content Marketing
    Conversion Rates
    Editorial Calendar Tips
    Engagement
    Facebook
    Google Analytics
    How To Marketing Tips
    Influencer
    Instagram
    Instagram Live
    Keyword Search
    Marketing
    Marketing Automation
    Picture Quotes
    Podcasts
    Recording Videos
    Repurpose Blogs
    Research Trends
    Sales Funnel
    SEO Marketing
    Sharing Posts
    Slide Shows
    Smartwatch
    Social Media Marketing
    Social Media News
    Social Media Tools
    Social Selling
    Target Marketing
    Twitter
    Twitter Notifications
    User Interaction
    Video
    Video Marketing

    Archives

    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

    RSS Feed

All content copyrighted (C) 2010 ~ 2020
​All Photos & Content Used Under Creative Commons
​www.RickRea.com 701-200-7831
Privacy Policy
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Social Media News
    • SEO Marketing News
    • Digital Trends News
    • Photography News
    • Mobile Marketing
    • Business News
    • Gadget News
    • Printing News
  • Contact
  • About
  • Subscribe