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Is this illegal...

by DaleP
10 replies
  • SEO
    • |
I write a unique article for my website, I fond out that someone else has stolen it and used it on their website. is this legal and could I take legal action.
#illegal
  • Profile picture of the author Devilfish
    I guess it comes under copyright infringement.

    You can file a DMCA notice to have the content taken down. Other than that, there's nothing you can do. Put some backlinks in your articles so you at least get some link juice in future if someone copies it.

    If they've copied it from an article directory, they should have kept the biography links at the bottom. If not, maybe you could report it to the directory staff.
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    • Profile picture of the author DaleP
      if my article gets indexed first on my site, and my article gets stolen and put onto his website...chances are is that google will ignore HIS article rather than mine as mine was indexed first right?
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      • Profile picture of the author TheHutz
        Originally Posted by DaleP View Post

        if my article gets indexed first on my site, and my article gets stolen and put onto his website...chances are is that google will ignore HIS article rather than mine as mine was indexed first right?
        That's pretty much the size of it. You wont get penalised for duplicate content - as it's not on your site, but his "version" wont be as powerful by any means.

        However, if he did much better and more aggressive link building than you, then he will rank higher.
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  • Profile picture of the author CJontheweb
    Yeah it's illegal but I wouldn't make a big deal out of it unless it was making you a lot of money.
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    • Profile picture of the author DaleP
      thanks all...

      then aside...(if you can answer, else i will create a new posting)

      1. is it possible that if my article gets indexed in google, and then another 50 guys steal it from my website....am i right in saying that google will not penalise me because they can see i was the original content holder based on the date/time that they indexed it?

      2. If google hates duplicate content, why will they still index copies of my article on the websites of thieves who stole them

      3. when i post an article to my website (I do this every few days so google crawls my site often), i also post this same article to a few article directories to create some back links. I have heard this is not ideal as it is duplsicate content, however google still index's the articles i submit to the directories. should I continue doing this or not? the way i see it is that i have nothing to lose, as long as i wait for the original article to be indexed on my website first before sending it to 100 article directories.
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      \"Successful, happy and fulfilled people have three things in common: someone to love, something to do, and something to look forward to.\"

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  • Profile picture of the author john1444
    Banned
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Hi DaleP,

      You mention that you post your articles on article directories. When posting on most of these directories you have agreed to give permission to allow the article to be posted on other websites as long as the text of the article is not altered, including the resource box.

      In your case no, it's not illegal because you have given permission by posting in the article directory.

      Even though your page is indexed first, the other pages are likely to be indexed as well. I recall Matt Cutts stating that when a keyword search is performed that returns an article with duplicates, the one with the highest PageRank would be displayed and duplicates with lower PR may be filtered. So, based on that statement, I would suggest that you get plenty of backlinks to ensure that the article on your site is not filtered as a duplicate.
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    • Profile picture of the author webdesignservice
      Hi DaleP,

      As what fellow warriors said, first thing is you must contact the website admin who copied you article and say your thoughts.

      But if your link is intact within the article that is being copied i think its ok...you will get backlink from that and that means more traffic for your site.
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  • Profile picture of the author Easy Cash
    I recently wrote a long post on my blog that I spent a lot of time on.

    Just recently I found exactly the same content on a forum - word for word. Most likley automatically posted there.

    I have contacted the forum owner - but no response yet.
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    • Profile picture of the author dburk
      Originally Posted by Easy Cash View Post

      I recently wrote a long post on my blog that I spent a lot of time on.

      Just recently I found exactly the same content on a forum - word for word. Most likley automatically posted there.

      I have contacted the forum owner - but no response yet.
      If they are automatically posting your content then write a post about how sleazy they are for plagiarizing your content. See if they steal that.
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  • Profile picture of the author Headfirst
    I generally use the $20 rule. If the article cost me under $20 I don't worry about it. It's not worth my time. Dealing with a DMCA takedown will take more time and end up costing money in the long run. My time is better spent on other things.
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