Copyright is important to any writer. It's a statement of ownership of property. And despite opinions to the contrary, writing is no less property than say a house or car. Yet, why do some people view such property as fair game for stealing? The very selfsame people who wouldn't think of stealing even a penny from anyone else, are quite happy and at ease with stealing writing.
One of the main reasons that writing is stolen online is that the internet is viewed as being "free", and, therefore, anything on it is "free" too - despite copyright notices being highly visible on websites.
Pure laziness maybe a cause. It's much easier to do a quick internet search for the article of your choice, put your name on it and use it. Quality web content is often at a premium and web owners' may just grab a writer's work just to fill out their website. It's much easier to lift website content than create your own.
Jealousy may prove to be another reason. A writer who feels inferior to a writer's talent may just steal an article and pass it off as his/her own, and with no regard whatsoever to copyright law.
But whatever the reason, it's wrong and it's illegal.
How To Deal With Content Theft
Identify the Source -
If your property has been stolen, the first step is to track down the source of the theft. But please remember that the person who originally stole the content may have had the content stolen from them too. They may even have had the content linked to. Your best course of action is to eliminate the linked websites. This should leave you with the website(s) that are actually displaying your content as their own.
What next?
You should contact the website owners and tell them that you are the writer of the content. Try not to go in with all guns blazing, as it will probably only antagonise and end any hope of worthwhile communication. You tell the website owner that your copyright is being breached. Then you offer the chance to remove the content, or acknowledge you as the copyright owner.
Gather Information and Evidence
You should always keep copies of any communications that you have had with the web owner. This could later prove to be valuable evidence if the matter goes to court. Now, the web owner may not believe that you are the copyright owner, in which case you may have to provide evidence. This is relatively simple.
1 - If you compiled your content in MS Word, all the content and files will be dated.
2 - A Google search can let you screen capture your website results, which will show the original cache file. It will provide a date. Print out a copy, making sure the date is seen.
3 - You may have invited family and friends to visit your website when it first appeared online. Ask them to be witnesses and have them verify the original publishing date to the internet.
All of the above may be faced with a counter claim. So, be aware that even if you have all evidence that you need, it may still not all be plain sailing, especially if the web owner is a genuine content thief. The thief will be set on obstructing you as much as possible.
Cease And Desist Order
If the website owner has refused to remove the content or hasn't even replied, it's time to put pressure on. You now send a cease and desist order to everyone involved. This means the website owners, their hosting provider and their advertisers. Don't contact the advertisers until the last minute though. You should offer 24-48 hours for a response. The cease and desist order is simply, "Stop or else." There are templates online that you can use.
If even the cease and desist doesn't work, then you ask their hosting provider to temporarily suspend the website until the copyright issue is resolved. If the hosting provider doesn't respond, then next are the advertisers. Good, reputable advertisers don't wish their reputation to be sullied in the marketplace. It's not in their best interests to have their advertisments placed alongside illegally obtained material. It may enough for them to pull their advertisements, thereby hurting the thief where it hurts the most.
If that didn't work, you now call in the search engines. You write to them and tell them of the copyright theft. You may want to send a small amount of the correspondence you shared with the thief, and a dated document to prove your copyright ownership. You can request a ban from the search engines under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 The European Union equivalent is the EU Copyright Directive/EUCD. The ban should lead to a significant decrease in the traffic being directed into the offending website.
If this not enough, then your next action is to visit a lawyer who specialises in copyright law. It may prove to be costly though. Most people would be content with the above actions, so consider well before you open yourself to such legal expense.
