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Do you usually DMCA stolen content if they give a backlink?

by tricksyhat
4 replies
Do you usually send DMCA notices to people who copy your content verbatim but provide a backlink?

I'm wondering what the general consensus is and how Google feels about your content copied on another website.

I have a site that has ~1,700 backlinks. At least a third of them are from blogs that have copied a page or two of my content word for word (images and videos too) and included a backlink back to the domain or the page itself.

I'm trying to breathe new life into this site and make it an authority in the niche.

Would you send them DMCA copyright infringement notices?
#backlink #backlinks #content #copyright #dmca #give #plagiarism #stolen
  • Profile picture of the author webmarketer
    Maybe this will help--

    Fair Use in Copyright (BitLaw)
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  • Profile picture of the author Steve B
    It's up to you how you handle it. I personally would try to be civil and pleasant in letting the copycat know that he is infringing.

    Even though you are covered by copyright, many web owners wrongly think it's OK to use other people's content if they provide attribution.

    If I were in your shoes, I would send them a nice but serious email letting them know that what they are doing is not OK, that they need your written permission before displaying your copyrighted information on their site (or for any other use).

    If they persist, then I would think about the DMCA.

    I would also also suggest you mention your terms of use (including not using your content without permission) in the policies section of your site as well as having a copyright notice at the end of every article or blog post. Whether you do this or not, you are still protected by copyright law but I would think that giving fair warning in several places on your web site would help your case if things ever turned ugly and you had to take legal action.

    I would think the majority of the copycats are doing it thinking there is nothing wrong if they give you a link. But if you warn them, and they don't stop, then is the time to assert your insistence via the more drastic action you mentioned.

    The very best to you,

    Steve
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    Steve Browne, online business strategies, tips, guidance, and resources
    SteveBrowneDirect

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    • Profile picture of the author tricksyhat
      Originally Posted by Steve B View Post

      It's up to you how you handle it. I personally would try to be civil and pleasant in letting the copycat know that he is infringing.

      Even though you are covered by copyright, many web owners wrongly think it's OK to use other people's content if they provide attribution.

      If I were in your shoes, I would send them a nice but serious email letting them know that what they are doing is not OK, that they need your written permission before displaying your copyrighted information on their site (or for any other use).

      If they persist, then I would think about the DMCA.

      I would also also suggest you mention your terms of use (including not using your content without permission) in the policies section of your site as well as having a copyright notice at the end of every article or blog post. Whether you do this or not, you are still protected by copyright law but I would think that giving fair warning in several places on your web site would help your case if things ever turned ugly and you had to take legal action.

      I would think the majority of the copycats are doing it thinking there is nothing wrong if they give you a link. But if you warn them, and they don't stop, then is the time to assert your insistence via the more drastic action you mentioned.

      The very best to you,

      Steve

      Thanks for the input. Honestly as long as Google doesn't care I'm not all that worried about them using my content if I get a backlink out of it. I expect some people to take my stuff, it's just part of doing business I guess.

      What I mostly worry about is

      (1. the quality of these backlinks since they are all obviously low grade sites
      (2. how Google is going to feel about the content being elsewhere
      (3. how Amazon will feel about my affiliate links on 100 different websites
      (4. how diluted my authority site content will be since the message is no longer unique to me.

      Should I be so worried or just let it go? What do you guys do?
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  • Profile picture of the author DubDubDubDot
    Check your stats. If the link is sending reasonable traffic (however you want you define that) you may want to turn a blind eye. If they aren't sending the traffic you want then contact their sources of revenue to chop their head off there (or get some strikes against them) before submitting a DMCA to the host....... or just ignore all of this since people stealing articles are small fish that will never amount to anything.
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  • Profile picture of the author kk075
    [DELETED]
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