Unfortunately, it happens every day. Unscrupulous business owners steal the copy (text) or original images from others' websites and place them on their sites. It's unfair, it's immoral, but what can you do to stop it from happening? And what can you do if someone does steal part or all of your site's copywriting?

You have protection: automatic protection that's afforded by the U.S. Library of Congress. So let's start by reviewing what type of protection is available for your site and how to take advantage of it. Then we'll look at what to do if you've fallen victim to a content thief.

What Is a Copyright?

According to the definition provided by the U.S. Library of Congress, "Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States to the authors of 'original works of authorship,' including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, and certain other intellectual works." This includes the copywriting (text) on Web pages, the HTML source code, articles circulated on the Internet, and other original works made available for display or reprinting on the Web.

The U.S. Library of Congress continues by saying that your copyright protection goes into affect immediately after your work is created. In all actuality, you need do nothing to have copyright protection. However, the more steps you take in advance, the easier time you'll have in proving you are the authentic owner of the copyright should you ever have to do so.

To view the entire text of copyright law, visit <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/laws/" target="_blank">http://www.copyright.gov/laws/</a>. For just the basics of copyright law, visit <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html" target="_blank">http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ1.html</a>. For copyright law explained in layman's terms, visit <a href="http://www.whatiscopyright.org/" target="_blank">http://www.whatiscopyright.org/</a>.

How To Protect Yourself

There are certain steps you can take to &quot;enforce&quot; your copyright. These steps will not prevent someone from stealing your website copy, but they will go a long way in proving ownership and notifying would-be thieves that you intend to take action against violators.

Make Your Copyright Known - Put a copyright notice at the bottom of each of your Web pages. The notice should say something to the effect of: &quot;All Content Protected by Copyright. All Rights Reserved, &copy; 2004. Violators will be prosecuted.&quot; Notice the announcement of copyright includes the fact that all rights are reserved, that violators will be dealt with, and the current date. If you've held the copyright on your content for several years, make that known as well by stating, &quot;All Rights Reserved &copy; 2001-2004&quot; or whatever the applicable dates may be.

File a Copyright Form - While not mandatory, you can file a copyright form with the U.S. Library of Congress. This is most helpful if you feel your website content is unlikely to change. If you constantly update or alter the text on your site, you may find it financially unfeasible to pay the fees. The U.S. Library of Congress will charge $30 for each copyright request you file. You can find the information needed to file a copyright at <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/" target="_blank">http://www.copyright.gov/</a>.

Bookmark This Site - Archive.org (<a href="http://www.archive.org/" target="_blank">http://www.archive.org/</a>) has a wonderful &quot;play toy&quot; that has been used successfully in proving copyright ownership. What was originally built to be a source of amusement has proven to be a valuable service. Archive.org's &quot;Way Back Machine&quot; archives old Web pages and stores them on its server. By typing in the domain name of any website, you can view past designs and copywriting for that page. Keep Archive.org's URL in your bookmark folder as a way to prove copyright ownership if you should need to do so.

What To Do If Your Content Is Stolen

The U.S. Library of Congress offers some advice on this matter. You can view the entire document at this link (<a href="http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html" target="_blank">http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap5.html</a>). In essence, the U.S. Library of Congress instructs you to &quot;serve written notice of the action with a copy of the complaint upon any person shown, by the records of the Copyright Office or otherwise, to have or claim an interest in the copyright.&quot;

It is recommended by the Library that your notification:

&middot; be written
&middot; include a physical or electronic signature
&middot; identify the copyrighted work you are claiming infringement of
&middot; include your contact information (phone number, address, email address, etc.)

If you get no positive results, or are told the offender has no plans to remove your content from their site, you can also use the techniques below:

Research the hosting company of the offender and contact them directly. This information is available from WhoIs.com (<a href="http://www.whois.com" target="_blank">http://www.whois.com</a>) and also from RandyCullom.com (<a href="http://www.randycullom.com/whois" target="_blank">http://www.randycullom.com/whois</a>).

In addition, you can report offenders to search engines that they are listed on and have their sites removed. Here are the links for reporting abuse for many of the most popular search engines:

Google - <a href="http://www.google.com/dmca.html" target="_blank">http://www.google.com/dmca.html</a>
MSN - <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm" target="_blank">http://www.microsoft.com/info/cpyrtInfrg.htm</a>
AltaVista - <a href="http://www.altavista.com/help/contact/search" target="_blank">http://www.altavista.com/help/contact/search</a>
AOL - <a href="http://www.aol.com/copyright/infringement.html" target="_blank">http://www.aol.com/copyright/infringement.html</a>
Yahoo - <a href="http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html" target="_blank">http://docs.yahoo.com/info/copyright/copyright.html</a>

Good planning can help keep your content from being stolen. It can also help you be in the best position possible to fight against violators who think they are above the law. To be on the safe side, take measures now to not only protect your website copywriting from cyber thieves but to also plan a course of action to fight back should you ever have to.

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Do you have books, ebooks, articles, newsletters, websites, brochures, or other media that need to be proofread by a second set of eyes? The author, Cathy Kessler, is a proofreader (<a href="http://www.BusinessProofreading.com" target="_blank">http://www.BusinessProofreading.com</a>) and certified professional virtual assistant (<a href="http://www.KesslerVA.com" target="_blank">http://www.KesslerVA.com</a>).

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