Plagiarism is the act of copying ideas, inventions, thoughts, and writings of someone else and trying to pass it off as your own.  This also includes copying another person’s idea or work, in part, without citing the original owner or using a reference.

————————————————————-
Is Your Content Properly Protected?
————————————————————-

Have you ever had your website content copied by someone else without your permission?

Besides being illegal this has the potential to cause huge problems for your rankings because it creates duplicates of your content online.

Unfortunately due to the extremely accessible nature of the internet this unscrupulous activity happens all the time.

This nasty problem raises two big questions…

1) How do you know if your content has been plagiarized?

and…

2) What can you do about it if it has?

This is quite a big topic but none the less very important so I have chopped it up in to two emails for you hopefully making it easier to digest.

First, I have two choices for you to accomplish this task:

1)  Visit DupeFree Pro to download a free version of their duplicate content software.  Great product.  No cost!

2)  Try Articlechecker.com online.  Free and very resourceful.

3)  The best and well-respected method is CopyScape.com.

All 3 of these suggestions provide an excellent service in checking your content, however this is never a 100% guarantee of all results, as content on the internet is dynamically updated, so it’s best to periodically check on your articles to be sure they continue to be plagiarism-free.

————————————————————————————
Now, What Can You Do If You’ve Been Plagiarized?
————————————————————————————

First, let me just say that I am *not* an expert on copyright law or any other sort of law. So please don’t consider any of this to be legal advice.

However, I have done some extensive research on copyright and these are my findings…

Note: These points are in relation to US copyright laws, but are still relevant even if you don’t live in the US.

** Basically anything you publish in any form is technically protected by a copyright. If you write an eBook, create a software product, write original website content, you own the copyright.

** If you hire a writer to write something for you then as long as it was part of the agreement only you will own the copyright.

** There is one exception to the prohibition against reusing the work of others on the Web which is reposting small excerpts of another website when offering comments or criticism.

** One fallacy is that unless a Web site or page is accompanied by a copyright symbol (the “c” within a circle © ), it doesn’t have copyright protection. In fact your work is copyright to you by default, however…

** According to one website you can only take legal action against copyright infringement if your copyright notice contains the copyright symbol ( © ). The special html code for the copyright symbol is: ©

** Technically speaking if someone copies something copyright to you then you can take legal action against them. However, if you do take legal action you need proof you are the original author. This can be achieved through registering your copyrighted work by filling out a form and sending it to the US copyright office together with your material and a small fee. However, even if you don’t register for copyright, you do still own copyright to your
work.

These are some very handy points on copyright law. A lot were news to me!

I hope you find them useful too.

—————————————————————————
What Can You Do If You’ve Been Plagiarised?
—————————————————————————

Now we know where we stand with copyright, what action should we take if the time comes…

After some thorough research I discovered these steps you can take against someone plagiarising your copyrighted work:

1) – If you discover another site plagiarizing yours, first collect
all evidence to support your case.

2) – Next, find the owner of the site. Most sites include contact
information. If not, do a WhoIs search – type “whois” into Google
to find WhoIs directories.

3) – Then send a firm, but non-belligerent, cease-and-desist e-mail.

4) – If that doesn’t work, have your lawyer send a cease-and-desist
letter to the person AND to the person’s Web host.

5) – And if that doesn’t work, consider having your lawyer file
suit.

Also I’ve read in multiple places that going straight to the infringing person’s webhost can be the best and only solution that provides results. It does depend on the webhost but they tend to take these matters very seriously and can disable the person’s account in an instant. You’ll need ample rvidence however.

You can find more information on plagiarism and copyright at the
Plagiarism Today website:  http://www.plagiarismtoday.com

Here’s a link to a sample cease-and-desist letter:

http://www.utsystem.edu/ogc/intellectualproperty/contract/cease.htm

I hope the above tips have been useful to you but more than that I hope you don’t need to use them. Plagiarism disputes are ugly and can get messy. Above all else it’s important to act calmly and professionally.

**  This article is shared by permission from Michael & Steven Grzywacz

with DupeFree Pro.  Grab a copy of their free duplicate content software today!