Yep, it happened to me, copyright infringement! Plagiarism! Stealing, Robbing & Violating!

My main website content was copy/pasted onto another virtual assistants website as if it were there for the taking, like a free sampling of teriyaki chicken at Costco! Yes, like you, I have heard the stories, read the stories somehow thought, naw…it couldn’t happen to me. But, now that it has.. it’s like the old Bridget Fonda movie…Single White Female…CREEPY!

The story gets even creepier once I dug a little deeper as this person has a profile ActiveRain as an “award-winning” web designer/virtual assistant. This person even called me last week, impersonating a real estate agent in my local area, asking for sample VA agreement. SO, as my mad little fingers did some Internet searching..I came across some great information from Josh Dorkin of Biggerpockets.com at TimeforBlogging.com. I’m giving him full credit for this post, as I am following his suggestions..and getting my lawyer in on it.

Copyright infringement is against the law, (United States Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA), and goes against most Terms of Agreements for search engines, web hosts, and domain registration sites, like GoDaddy. As it turns out, Google, Yahoo etc, can be very helpful in dismantling a website that has violated this act.

1. Check Copyscape.com:

I found about this @%#! website as I regularly check Copyscape.com. I even have the warning labels on my pages of my website.

There is a FREE version which allows you to check up to 25 different pages of your website. YOU MUST CHECK ALL PAGES OF YOUR WEBSITE, not just your home page/domain name. For instance I have my homepage: www.creativeagentsolutions.com, and I have other pages like www.creativeagentsolutions.com/ListingCoordination.html . I never would have found all the pages that were copied without searching each of my pages.

2. Go to Whois:

Here, I found out who the owner of the domain is, contact information like email address, phone numbers etc. I found out where they bought their domain, and where the website is being hosted, as well as its servers. It will also give you the date the domain was bought, so you can prove your content was written first. Take down this information.

3. Take screen shots of the web pages that have been copied.

I have a couple snippets below of my particular offender’s pages. They speak for themselves. Save to send to your lawyer, the search engines, and all hosted providers. Heck even throw in the pictures to the lovely email you are going to send to the violator.

4. Email the Copyright Violator, Their Host, Their Registrar, and your lawyer

Josh has a great template for an email you can send, or you can have your lawyer send it for you. I will see if this letter does any good, if not, my lawyer will get on it.

5. Notify the Search Engines, like Google and Yahoo

Google’s Intellectual Property Policy
“It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. For directions and more information, please click here.”

Yahoo’s Copyright and Intellectual Property Policy

I am hoping the scumbag that copied my site will see the error of their ways…hey maybe they are still learning about web design, and think if I happen to stumble across the website I might just be flattered. I’m not. I’m pissed, and I will do something about it.

Until then, take some nice Copyscape protection banners and put them on your site. It may not stop the scumbags, but at least you’ve given them fair warning.