Keep up the good fight Kathleen. See: ASK AN AMBASSADOR: What Do I Do When I Find A Plagiarized Post?
So far have we come, so far have we yet to go!! I'll accept the "copyright queen" title if it will help members. Ask a few members who have gotten a "demand" letter from Getty or another content owner whose content they have used in their web sites or within ActiveRain. I've received a number of phone calls from members about these demand letters so I know that entities that publish content are watching.
Kathleen advises, "give credit or remove it" ?????
NO, NO, NO. WHY, WHY, WHY GIVE A COPYRIGHT THIEF AN ALTERNATIVE???? ESPECIALLY A SOLUTION THAT DOES NOT REMOVE THE VIOLATION?
GIVING CREDIT IS ATTRIBUTION. ATTRIBUTION IS NOT PERMISSION. Until and unless there is written PERMISSION to use that content, it cannot legally be used. I'm not a lawyer and if you are, and have better information, let us know.
Contrary to popular opinion, there are many law abiding writers. Hardly a week goes by without a telephone call or e-mail from someone who likes one of my copyright protected graphic maps. If they are not a competitor, I simply e-mail them permission. It's so easy. Have I pursued competitors who used my copyright protected maps? You bet I have and they have paid from $2,000 to $41,000 in damages. When one of my images is found on a competitor's web site or blog, I politely (I'm a southern lady and always polite) contact them and ask them to kindly remove the offending content. REMOVE ONLY. If they want to continue to use my image in their web site, they can make an offer.
Just this past week I spoke with a lovely gentleman who is writing a book about the Eastern Shore of Maryland. He found one of my maps of that area on Google Images and contacted me. Of course I sent an e-mail giving him permission to use my map. He promised to send me a copy of his book when it's published. I look forward to it.
However, giving a copyright thief a half-way remedy ("give credit or remove it") doesn't address the basic problem. The only solution is to comment to their post, "The content of your post is copyright protected. Did you write it??"
Shame them??? HA! I doubt that the copyright thief will be shamed. If they could be shamed, they wouldn't steal content. Assuming that a thief has a conscience doesn't work. Copyright thieves are no better than a book thief in a book store. They are just harder to catch and prosecute because the target of their perfidy is content and not a physical object like a book.
Oh well.
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