Content theft: how mobiThinking dealt with a site that reprinted scores of original articles without permission

Recently mobiThinking discovered that a mobile and internet marketing consulting company in North Carolina, USA, had been reposting original content from mobiThinking.com on its own Website without permission. There were at least 70 original mobiThinking articles reposted in their entirety, including the most popular content and in-depth content such as the mobile stats compendium, guide to ad networks, guide to mobile awards etc. At the end of each article the company had included a single line sourcing the article to mobiThinking, but hadn’t obtained permission to reuse any of the material, disregarding the site’s legal statement.

Like any media organization, mobiThinking loves other sites to reference and quote articles, as long as it clearly states the source and links back to the original. This is fair use of content and an endorsement. mobiThinking regularly quotes and links back to other organization’s articles, research etc in this way. However, reprinting entire articles (or large sections of articles) infringes mobiThinking’s and/or the author’s copyright as the originator of the articles.

This really is too much to stomach, partly because if the content is duplicated elsewhere, then fewer people will read it on mobiThinking’s site and partly because duplication of the articles will harm mobiThinking’s SEO as much as it enhances the site that reposts it, because, as SEO experts state, search engines favor unique content.

Web searches show that this is not the only Website that has been reprinting mobiThinking content without authorization (all such infringements are being addressed). This suggests that content theft is a widespread practice and that other Web publishers online and/or mobile may also be victims of similar misappropriation of content.

N.B. This blog post is only meant to help spread awareness of the issue and point out some places to go for help and possible remedies. Please don’t consider this to be advice on how to deal with a case of copyright infringement – if you need advice, consult a legal expert. Regulations on copyright vary from country to country, though are, to some extent, governed by international treaties, and are tricky for most laymen to understand. It is essential that you get your facts right. If you wrongly/unfairly accuse a company of copyright infringement, that company has every right to seek redress, which could mean legal action.

mobiThinking found these resources useful:
• How to stop copyright infringement from SEO Logic;
• How to send DMCA notifications from SEO Logic;
• Chilling Effects is an entire site dedicated to copyright infringement and archives of “take down” or “cease and desist” notices, with lots of examples and useful FAQs. This site was set up to help recipients fight unfair claims of copyright infringement (which it appears are almost as common as copyright infringement itself);
• The notice and take down provisions of the DCMA by Ivan Hoffman;
• The U.S. Copyright Office.

This is what mobiThinking learned from the experience:

1) Be vigilant. This experience highlighted that companies commonly repost other people’s original content on Websites without asking permission – whether this is out of ignorance or disregard for the law of copyright is unclear. So now mobiThinking conducts regular searches for content using particular phrases used in the documents. We might search for “Those statistics in more detail” (a phrase from the Mobile stats compendium – at time of writing this search suggests several cases of unauthorized use); or mobiThinking’s email “editor (at) mobiThinking.com” (which is contained in all our articles).

2) Make the policy on copyright clear. Assuming that companies are reposting articles out of ignorance rather than disregard for the law, mobiThinking has started to attach an explicit warning at the bottom of articles (see below). This is in addition to the site’s legal statement. The repeat offender that prompted this blog not only continued to repost articles, but also included the copyright warning.

3) Collect evidence before taking action. On discovering the unauthorized content on other sites, mobiThinking makes copies, both of the offending pages and of search engine results that link to the same pages, using both ‘save as web archive file’ and taking screen shots (print screen).

4) Study the site. If the site uses content from other sites, mobiThinking contacts the other content owners to enquire if they have authorized use of their material. The presumption is that if all content owners act in unison it may get a faster reaction.

5) Identify the Website owner. A who is search will quickly reveal the Website owner and contact details. Many sites will also have contact details on the site.

6) Contact the Website owner requesting removal. In this case, mobiThinking’s parent company sent the Website owner an email pointing out that the site has been using mobiThinking’s copyrighted material, stating the policy and requesting removal by a certain deadline. The mobiThinking content was removed swiftly after the notice was received.

7) Request that search engines remove the material. Under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) copyright owners can request that online service providers such as Website hosts and search providers to remove or disable access to material that infringes the owner’s rights.
This exercise is fairly straight-forward with Google, using this online form. In this case, the Google team acted with impressive speed. In less than a day Google had removed the URLs of the unauthorized copies from Google’s search index. It is Google’s policy to send to legal complaints that result in removals from the search index to Chilling Effects. Perhaps naming and shaming the offender will prompt removal of the material, but it will also give them the opportunity to counter claim if they disagree with the notification. Google will consider site-wide (full domain) removals if provided with a list of at least 100 infringing URLs from that domain.
Sending DMCA notifications to Microsoft, AOL and Yahoo is not quite as straight-forward as with Google – find out how here.

8) Request that the ISP/host of the site remove the material. The rules that allow companies to request search engines to block access/remove copyrighted material also entitle companies to request that the service provider that hosts the offending site removes/blocks the material, using DCMA notifications. Your rights to demanding the removal or blocking of material by service providers is examined in this article by Ivan Hoffman.
mobiThinking did not take this action in this case, as all copies of the articles were removed swiftly after the Website owner were contacted. But in the past, when mobiThinking’s parent company dotMobi/Affilias written to service providers highlighting copyright issues, it has become clear that there is much inconsistent practice among service providers when it come to dealing with take-down requests, with some providers being particularly slow to take action.

N.B. As Google warns incorrect use of DCMA notifications could potentially land you in big trouble:
“If you knowingly misrepresent that material or activity is infringing, you may be subject to liability for damages. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first contact a lawyer.”


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