Wonder if your web content is being ripped off? Our site was brazenly copied and used by another web design company. They copied EVERYTHING; graphics and text. The only unique part of the site was their name and phone number. I’d post the URL, but they’ve since taken it down since we lodged a complaint with the host.
Try this free plagiarism checker, copyscape.com, to find copies of your web pages online.
UPDATE
Another site copied our front page text verbatim: Nordquist Web Services. Their site is gone now, but Mr. Nordquist ignored our request to remove it, even though this was in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
WHAT TO DO IF SOMEONE HAS STOLEN YOUR CONTENT
The Copyscape site recommends responding quickly:
- Contact the web hosting company used by the site and inform them of their customer’s abuse. This information is also available through a Whois search.
- Send a formal ‘Cease and Desist’ letter notifying the offending party that they must remove the stolen content from their site. Some sample letters are available on the web.
- File a notice of Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) infringement with search engines such as Google and others to have the offending site removed from their search results.
- If you need proof of infringement, use the Internet Archive to show that the content appeared on your site at an earlier date than it appeared on the offending site.