Most theft is done from agents whose truly excellent Websites, packed with brilliantly creative elements, put them miles ahead of other agents. I'm getting convinced that most pirates are just too uncreative and dense to think up something original or who just tell themselves that after all, "Everything on the Internet is free, isn't it?"
Duh. No!
Here are some useful sites that can answer all your copyright questions including who can claim copyright and how to register your copyright, all useful tools in protecting your Website from pirates.
- U.S. Government: Everything about copyright from the U.S. government
- How to register your copyright
- What is copyright?
- Who can claim copyright?
- What works are protected by copyright?
- What works are not protected?
- A good general intellectual property site, Intelproplaw
- Gigalaw articles on intellectual property
- Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)
- Google's take on the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
- Google's statement regarding the DMCA
It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found at the U.S. Copyright Office Web Site), and other applicable intellectual property laws, which may include removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of infringing activity. If we remove or disable access to comply with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we will make a good-faith attempt to contact the owner or administrator of each affected site so that they may make a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and (3) of that Act. It is our policy to document all notices of alleged infringement on which we act. A copy of the notice will be sent to a third party who will make it available to the public.
- File an Infringement Notice with Google
- The Google Counter Notification
- Your ISP can help you
Under the DMCA, an ISP can remove offending material if you can prove to the ISP that one of the agents being hosted there has stolen stuff from you.
- Advanced Access is a realty Website designer, which has built more than 35,000 agent sites. It hosts them, too, in its role as their ISP. Remember, ISPs can remove material that a pirate has posted there. You can see for yourself what AA says regarding removal of pirated material.
- Sitepoint on copyright infringement
Design Theft: What You can Do
- Copyright infringement legislation underway
- What every Webmaster should know about copyright law
- Copyright law from freeadvice.com
- Trademarks used in meta tags
The "Law for All" site at www.Nolo.com says: Meta tags have been the subject of trademark lawsuits because companies have used them to divert or confuse consumers. For example, Company A inserts the trademark name of a rival business, Company B, into its meta tag. A customer using a search engine to find Company B is diverted to Company A instead.
- What is Digital Watermarking?
Digimarc says that its digital watermarking technologies allow users to embed in audio, images, video and printed documents a digital code that is imperceptible during normal use but readable by computers and software.
"The science of creating these imperceptible codes is known as digital watermarking. Digimarc is a leading owner of intellectual property to digital watermarks and a pioneer in the commercial application of this technology. Our technologies are supported by a broad patent portfolio covering a wide range of methods and applications."
- Finally, listen to Alice Held talk about Internet pirates during a half-hour radio recording done by the CyberSpace Society
Alice's incredible site is one of the most beautiful agent sites in the U.S. Apparently thieves just cannot resist robbing from her. She even has agents located just down the street stealing stuff from her!
Going after Pirates could become almost a full time job for some agents. It is a good job to give to a virtual eProductivity assistant.
Yes, Virginia. You can win in court sometimes.
Here's an actual case that was kindly posted for us in the AdvancedAccess.com forum on Aug. 4 by Phoenix Realtor, Dan Hill. You will see here how Joseph C. Shields, individually and trading as THE JOE CARTOON COMPANY, won his case against a pirate by using the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, ("ACPA" or "Act"). See this.
Published: October 14, 2004
Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.
Bill Koelzer is a Web marketing consultant to web-proficient agents nationwide. He is co-author, with Barbara Cox, Ph.D., of the Prentice-Hall books, 