Author: Mitch Keeler

Content theft is something that happens to everybody.  Having been a target of these thieves myself, as well as being one who has studied up on how to deal with them, I thought I would share some tips with you on how to reclaim ownership of your content.

Under copyright law, anything that you have created is automatically copyrighted by you, as the creator.  Just because you distribute your articles, artwork, photography and more for free online does not give anybody else the right to steal it.

So what should you do first?   Try to find a way to contact the thief, either by using the contact information on the web site or looking up their contact information via a domain name WhoIs search.

Next, write up a professional e-mail to them asking for them to please remove your content from their website(s).  Do not be rude or abusive about it.  Just make sure you point out the source of your work, where they are plagiarizing your work, and give them a reasonable time frame to remove it (5 to 7 days should work).

This should take care of the issue nine times out of ten.  If it does not, then you might want to look into other options, such as contacting their advertisers, a cease and desist order, or requesting that the various search engines around the Web ban them for duplicate content.

For more help on copyright, content theft and plagiarism, please check out these resources:

• Plagiarism.org
• What to Do When Someone Steals Your Content
• Crash Course in Copyright

Just remember, do not be afraid to fight for your content if it is being used by somebody else.  That is your creation, and you should defend your rights when somebody else is stealing it.