Unfortunately, copyright infringement is alive and well in the blogosphere and I see it taking place on several blogs. I’m not talking about sploggers who infringe on copyright by scraping your RSS feed. I’m talking about bloggers who knowingly infringe on copyright.
If you intend to use someone’s copyrighted work, you must obtain that person’s written permission.
What of that sentence is hard to understand?
Yesterday I found myself in a situation where my copyrighted work was infringed upon.
It has come to my attention that iamvista from mybloglog has made unauthorized use of my copyrighted work entitled Thursday Thirteen-Top 13 Blogging Mistakes in the preparation of a work derived therefrom. I own copyright to this work that was first published on my blog February 22nd, 2007. As this blogger neither asked for nor received permission to use my work, I have a right to request that he remove it from his blog.
Here is the thing. He is not the only one that reprinted it without my permission.
It has begun showing up on a large number of Chinese blogs without my permission. In an email one blogger commented
” Vista a Chinese blogger , he says that he know you and metion he has gotten your accpect so I give him a commet and tell he I will trace his article to my blog .that is all I know
I don’t know why you so angry even I mention this post is from your site, but I am really so sorry . ”
I have a right to be upset. Giving credit does not mean that you are not infringing on copyright or does it mean that you have permission to use that person’s work.
Why can people not understand this?
Copyright infringement is the unauthorized use of someone else’s copyrighted material.
Some bloggers who reprinted the post did not link to my site at all. It does not matter that Iamvista changed a few words around and cited me. He created a post derived from my work, therefore infringing on my copyright and I have every right to be pissed off.
Before you copy anything from my blog or any website for that matter, get permission and no I’m not the blog police. I’m just one pissed off blogger who had her copywritten work infringed on.
If you liked this post, why not buy me a coffee?
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12 responses so far ↓
Wrote: Feb 26, 2007 at 7:47 pm
I guess since most bloggers don’t copyright, they usually copy stuff that they really like and want to share then do the “hat tip” to the original blogger.
I can see that when you write for a living this is probably infuriating and frustrating for you.
When people do it to me I just take it as a compliment, but I don’t expressly forbid it either.
Wrote: Feb 26, 2007 at 9:30 pm
Hammer, bloggers don’t always cite the source, furthermore citing does not substitute for acquiring copyright permission to use something from someone’s blog and I’m not just talking about content from blogs.
Some bloggers willfully infringe on copyright. They take things from websites that have a disclaimer , but ignore the notice and still display the content on their blog without the original owner’s permission.
Even if the blogger gives the original author credit, he or she has still violated their terms of use.
The blogosphere is becoming plagued with plagiarism and copyright violations.
Wrote: Feb 26, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I suspect that this problem will never go away. There is no practical way to enforce any laws about it.
Ian
Wrote: Feb 26, 2007 at 10:30 pm
I publish under a Creative Commons license that allows “scraping” as long as they provide a link back to me.
Those who do this are not from sites with a PR higher than mine and it typically happens months after I publish something.
I also have a writer on my blog who puts everything into the public domain.
Part of copyright law is having to find the people who take your work. I know the life cycle of my articles and consider the copying to be free advertising, as long as thy follow my license that is. One blogger did not, he no longer has a blog!
Wrote: Feb 27, 2007 at 12:19 pm
maybe the other blogger didn’t know? but then, blogosphere is so huge, maybe even limitless, that these things cannot be avoided. hurray for all citizens of the blogosphere who still respect others!
Wrote: Feb 27, 2007 at 1:41 pm
Is it just me that feels that plagerizing and infringing on copyright is wrong? I cannot respect anyone that condones copyright infringement.
Ian I disagree with you! An acquaintance I know had their blog suspended after they published a photo that they did not have permission from the copyright holder to publish. Another blogger received a cease & desist letter for publishing a comic they did not have permission to post. Those who infringe on copyright should be held liable for copyright infringement.
Steve, well good for you! I do not allow scraping. I have a problem with sploggers making money off of my blogging. If you allow it than that your prerogative.
Sexy Mom, I have a copyright right on my blog and by today’s end I will also have a copyright disclaimer.
Wrote: Feb 27, 2007 at 5:36 pm
No, I don’t allow for others to ‘profit’ off of my work. I had a blogger kicked off of blogger for ’scraping’ my content.
He changed one link and claimed the article was his. I found it and had his blog removed. I would never have known about it except he had the article (on his blog) submitted to Digg and it hit the home page.
If someone wants to run one of my articles on their blog, make no money off of it, and give me proper credit I am fine with that.
Tom Vasel, who writes for me, puts his stuff into the public domain. He’s a game reviewer and the more exposure he gets the more free games and access he gets.
Wrote: Feb 27, 2007 at 5:52 pm
I agree with you rose wholeheartedly, I was just explaining why most bloggers are clueless
This is a relatively new frontier with raw amateurs jotting down their thoughts, cutting and pasting articles willy nilly. Heck most of these plagerists probably pick their noses and ignore traffic signals too..who knows
It’s not right but I’m really not surprised that there is so much infringement happening in the blogosphere.
With so many hard working folks trying to make a living off their words, this stuff needs to stop.
Wrote: Feb 27, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Steve, this person created a work deprived from my work.
He did not reprint my article in it’s full entirety nor did he quote a few lines of my post with a link to the remaining post.
He has removed my article now and apologized, but sadly it is still showing up on a number of blogs in the Chinese blogging community.
I would not be so upset had he asked for permission to reprint the article including my byline. I would have most likely granted him permission.
Hammer it does need to stop.
Wrote: Feb 28, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I completely agree with you, I’ve even had to think about the use of public photos on Flickr. When I’ve seen so many bloggers using the blog this on photos that ARE NOT copyrighted, I thoght this was OK, until I thought of someone using photos of my family as mine ARE NOT copyrighted either, and how would I feel. So even things that aren’t copyrighted, if they are not yours, asking permission should still be done.
Wrote: Mar 1, 2007 at 10:11 pm
I agree with the outrage. I was wondering, how on earth do you find out if you’ve been plagiarized?
Wrote: Mar 1, 2007 at 10:38 pm
Christine, I know what you mean.
Sarala well I found out via blog search, but you can use copyscape.com.