# Someone Copied my Blog



## max3k (Jun 23, 2010)

Take a look at this...
Photography &#8211; How to Make a Lightbox on the Cheap | Eastwind Photography.
Read the text and compare with my original
How to Make a Lightbox on theCheap - Blog - Exposing God
Not sure what is going on....any thoughts?


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## pmsnel (Jun 23, 2010)

You can also think:
Someone thought your blog is worth copying!

But it is a bit dodgy.


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## max3k (Jun 23, 2010)

i found this out by checking my google analytics. its just strange...the site isnt all that well made, they didnt even take time to format the photos to fit their own page...


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## pmsnel (Jun 23, 2010)

I think they just found an easy way to fill their blog. I don't know if you can do anything about this legally. It would be hard proving yours was there first I think. Have you tried to contact them yet?


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## Jayce (Jun 23, 2010)

Generally, contacting the blog owner and asking them to remove the article is most effective.  It's usually not worth the legal hassle to do anything more than that.


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## max3k (Jun 23, 2010)

im not mad about it, its just a DIY piece, but what about the other photographers images


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## pmsnel (Jun 23, 2010)

Can't see those... Opera scrambles the whole page...


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## KmH (Jun 23, 2010)

When you put something online, be sure to pat it on the ass and kiss it goodby as you do.

The theft of online, copyrighted material is rampant.

You don't indicate in your profile what country you are in, so there is no telling what country's copyright laws or other possible legal remedies might apply.

Certainly you could try and contact the miscreant with a request they take the purloined material off the Internet. Good luck with that, and you would want to be careful you don't inadvertantly and irretrievably close the doors of other possible remedies by doing so.


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## max3k (Jun 23, 2010)

Let me be clear. MY SITE - the original - is the ExposingGod.com site

the plagiarist is the eastwind site.

there may have been some confusion about that.


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## Derrel (Jun 23, 2010)

KmH said:


> When you put something online, be sure to pat it on the ass and kiss it goodby as you do.
> 
> The theft of online, copyrighted material is rampant.



Well-stated, KmH!!
Not to be dismissive, but the DIY instructions you posted were pretty simple...last week my little son told one of his playmates that, "MY dad has a super-special secret recipe for cinnamon toast!" Uh...no....it's toasted bread, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Your DIY light box is the equivalent to my cinnamon toast recipe. It's like posting the recipe for boiling water, or for making instant macaroni and cheese...


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## Josh66 (Jun 23, 2010)

Derrel said:


> Not to be dismissive, but the DIY instructions you posted were pretty simple...last week my little son told one of his playmates that, "MY dad has a super-special secret recipe for cinnamon toast!" Uh...no....it's toasted bread, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Your DIY light box is the equivalent to my cinnamon toast recipe. It's like posting the recipe for boiling water, or for making instant macaroni and cheese...


Yeah - I have seen similar instructions all over the place.

The fact that they just copy & pasted it is pretty f'd up though.

I just don't think there's anything you can do, since the idea is so common.  At least they didn't copy your pictures too (then you would be able to do something).


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## KmH (Jun 23, 2010)

In fact, you cannot copyright an idea.


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## max3k (Jun 23, 2010)

Derrel said:


> KmH said:
> 
> 
> > When you put something online, be sure to pat it on the ass and kiss it goodby as you do.
> ...


 
so.....whats the recipe?  :lmao:


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## Browncoat (Jun 23, 2010)

Contrary to popular belief:


Copyright law is NOT complicated.
Does NOT require a lawyer.
Often does NOT need more than a simple/friendly email.
Is NOT expensive if it goes to court.
Just because something is posted on the internet does not mean it is free for the taking.  It is free to look at, but is covered by copyright law under _intellectual property_.  This includes your blog posts and photos posted on your blog.

Here are some steps you can take:


Contact the content thief directly.  The first thing this does is create a paper trail.  Be courteous, but brief and state that protected material has been taken from you.  Provide links to your original and ask that they remove theirs.
Wait a week.
If they haven't removed your property, send a cease and desist order.  There are many free templates available on the web, so use one.  Inform them that they are liable for any attorney fees, court costs, and damages as a result of inaction.  Make a reasonable deadline for them to remove the content and CLEARLY state that legal action will take place after the deadline.
That's where I'll end the legal jargon.  You can do your own homework from there.  An additional step to take:  request that their site be banned from search engines.

Google, Yahoo! and others have strict guidelines on content theft.  Do a search for DMCA Act of 1998.  Each search engine has ban request guidelines, so be prepared to take this route if the offender does not remove your property.

It helps tremendously to have something more than a tiny copyright symbol at the very bottom of your blog's footer.  Create a separate copyright page or include it on your "About" page.


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## KmH (Jun 23, 2010)

Browncoat said:


> It helps tremendously to have something more than a tiny copyright symbol at the very bottom of your blog's footer. Create a separate copyright page or include it on your "About" page.


 How does that help?


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## Browncoat (Jun 24, 2010)

KmH said:


> How does that help?



Intellectual property is covered so long as the owner "makes a reasonable and conspicuous attempt to display copyright protection notices".  In a sense, you want to make sure you are crossing your t's and dotting your i's by letting everyone know that your material is under copyright protection.

As I'm sure you can imagine, the #1 defense against content theft is, "I didn't know it was copyrighted material.  I didn't see a notice anywhere."  If you display your © prominently, not only does it ward off more potential thieves, it makes it easier to defend yourself should the matter end up in court.


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## KmH (Jun 24, 2010)

Browncoat said:


> Intellectual property is covered so long as the owner *"makes a reasonable and conspicuous attempt to display copyright protection notices".*


Where does the quote come from?


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## Browncoat (Jun 24, 2010)

Not a direct quote, but comes from the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act).


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