Blogger plagerized!

[Coltrane]

http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Blogger etiqutte is such that we as bloggers give credit when using another blogger's posts or columnists articles. It keeps the traffic and recognition flowing to those that deserve it and keeps this well oiled machine moving and unites us as bretheren of a sort. Just recently a new blog RealOpinion.com has plagerized our website and stolen our video clips in an attempt to drive traffic to their site. I asked them politely to modify their posts so when they use our articles or video clips, they are routed through our website. He refused and said the only way they will stop is if we add them to our blogroll.
Anyone have any sugestions?

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. Consider...

Banning his IP in the .htaccess file on your server. It should be in the root directory of your file area. It might be hidden. Your host should be helpful in this.

[Walt Starr]

2. Send a Cease and Desist letter

Your content is copyrighted when you create it. Plagarizing it without giving due credit is a violation of copyright laws.

[Skinner]

3. What jerks.

If I were you, I'd politely tell them that there is no way that they're ever going to get listed on your blogroll, and that they are breaking the law, and unless they stop stealing your stuff they are going to hear from your lawyer.

[Taxloss]

4. Here's a similar story:

http://www.mil-millington.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/saga.htm

From the now-discontinued TMGAIHAA blog.

[whistle]

5. The unwritten rule is great when men and women of honor...

...participate for the love and the general weal of the system. Here is realopinion.com's registration rules:

<snip>

Forum Rules

Registration to this forum is free! We do insist that you abide by the rules and policies detailed below. If you agree to the terms, please check the 'I agree' checkbox and press the 'Register' button below. If you would like to cancel the registration, click here to return to the forums index.

Although the administrators and moderators of Real Opinion.com Community Forums will attempt to keep all objectionable messages off this forum, it is impossible for us to review all messages. All messages express the views of the author, and neither the owners of Real Opinion.com Community Forums, nor Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. (developers of vBulletin) will be held responsible for the content of any message.

By agreeing to these rules, you warrant that you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-orientated, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws.

The owners of Real Opinion.com Community Forums reserve the right to remove, edit, move or close any thread for any reason.

<link> http://www.realopinion.com/realboards/

How do these differ from DU's rules? It may be just a general ignorance of the proper etiquette. You might want to send a copy of the DU rules and ask if they would consider adhering to something closer to what we have here. If that fails, then you can always monitor what they do and when you find infringements, post open grievances of the site with the appropriate links. If that doesn't get them to stop their plagiarist practices, keep records and sue the bastards. It may be a free market, but that does not give license to steal.

[Garbo 2004]

6. Contact his site host, preferrably with proof that yours is original

work if you can, and tell them about it. If he's taking your original work, that's a copyright violation and you can explain that you contacted him and what his response was. If he openly admitted to you that he lifted the stuff and is in effect blackmailing you provide that also, forward emails etc to the provider/site host.

The videos: if they themselves are copyrighted material (TV shows, for ex.) that you really don't own and may not have gotten permission from the copyright owner to host on your site, well that may be questionable.

Run a whois on his site and see who you can contact. Usually site hosts have rules about not having others' copyrighted material without permission.

Anyway, that's one way to go...other than that there are legal remedies. But again, you need to be the lawful owner or approved by the copyright owner for the material on your site that he took.

[Liberty Belle]

7. Quick! Register with the Copyright Bureau.

If you pay the registration fee (around $30) within 3 months of first publication, you are legally entitled to statutory damages, not just actual damages. What that means is that you could be awarded up to a staggering amount--something like $150,000, but check the US Copyright Bureau for the latest figure.

(If you register at any time past 3 months after the article was first published, you can collect only actual damages, meaning you'd have to prove how the infringement hurt you financially. If you don't register at all, you have no legal standing to sue. It is a fallacy that mailing a copy to yourself suffices; it does not. Trust me on this--I'm a lead plaintiff in a landmark class action suit over copyright infringements by major newspapers and electronic databases. Incidentally, you can file all your works for the psat year under a single registration fee. It's best to file every 3 months, so that all registrations are "timely."

While you probably don't want to sue another blogger (and risk silencing a liberal voice), merely sending him a letter advising him of your timely registration and right to collect the high statutory damages sum if he persists in violating your copyright ought to be enough to persuade him to stop.



If you are a member of ASJA, you can get free legal advice on this issue, I believe.