5 Steps to Fight Website Plagiarism
You have worked countless hours perfecting and polishing the words on your Web site. When you are finally satisfied with the result, you publish your jewel online. Months or even years later, you stumble on a Web site that has copied your work, word for word. Your heart races and your palms sweat. Your masterpiece has been stolen.
A quick search on Google for the search term “Website Plagiarism” returns a large assortment of results. There are countless articles on how to combat Web site plagiarism, but what are effective strategies to fight and stop others from stealing your work? With years of experience in the plagiarism trenches, R & R Web Design LLC has come up with a 5 step practical strategy in plagiarism defense and counterattack.
- Get Legal. Have your work officially copyrighted. Visit the U.S. Government Copyright Office and download form TX. The basic registration fee is $45.
- Get Armed. With an arsenal of online tools to monitor your site against content theft and plagiarism. Copyscape, offers a premium service that scans the Internet for stolen content.
- Get Informed – Research the offending Web site. Determine contact information including email address, web hosting company and domain name provider.
- Get Straight To The Point. Contact the owner of the Web site using the Web site’s e-mail contact information or online form with a notice of copyright infringement. This notice should include that copied work that has been published on their Web site without permission has been registered with the U.S. Copyright Office and is protected by Copyright Law of the United States. Ask them to remove the copyrighted text within 24 hours.
- Get Fortified. If your first attempt does not bring results, contact the offending Web site a second contact by postal mail. If your requests still go answered, fortify your defense by contacting the web hosting company and domain name registrar.
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