[thelist] domain registration in various countries - ca, uk, fr, de, sg, etc

[Roger Newbrook]

got this mailing from www.webpronews.com WebProNews November 2nd, 2000
Issue, and i think it may be of interest, i don't know if this qualifies as
a tip, but i found it quite interesting and thought provoking. I would have
supplied a link but it appears to be only available on the news list.

roger

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2.) To Catch A [Website] Thief...

NOTE: This article is a bit long but I feel it is not only worth 
reading but NEEDS to be read. 

At both of our web sites recently we have had a daily rash of 
theft. The worst case was discovered just a few days ago and has 
been dealt with promptly. This person(s) took off with our entire 
Christmas area (yes, graphics and all) which is over 300 pages in 
size! He/she did not just take text and graphics; it was the whole 
HTML code of the page. He/she then placed them online as their own
--stating so by removing "Personality Creations" from the page header
and adding their own in its place. He/she also removed the site 
navigation table and my Human Click icon with my face on it. We 
caught this person(s) immediately due to several mistakes made on 
his/her part. 

On the other site the story is more serious to a business owner. 
How can it be more serious than taking 300 pages? Because they are 
taking your money when they copy the content from a business site. 
The business owner will chase that thief to the ends of the Earth 
and back, and rightfully so.

What are we talking about here?  Copyright infringement! I have 
found that a vast amount of you do not know the answers to these 
questions. Neither did I for quite some time. Copyright laws are 
like the IRS (Internal Revenue Service,) ignorance is no excuse. 
So read on...

What is copyrighted?

Your content is covered the moment it is written or created. This 
is the words you write, images and any other item that you create 
yourself, including how you display them. What you did not create 
yourself, you cannot claim copyright to. 

BTW, as I write this article I am watching someone copying many of 
our Christmas stories. Correction; they took our Christmas stories 
and those of the writers who gave us permission to post their 
copyrighted stories on our site. This person left the site with 13
stories in less than nine (9) minutes--this includes load time for
each page!  I know I can't read that fast, can you? 

Many web sites now have programs in place, as I do, that help them not 
only help their visitors when needed but also help us watch what's 
happening with our content. Others also rely on other means of 
finding what belongs to them. I cannot stress this enough, ALWAYS 
ASK and NEVER TAKE without first getting PERMISSION!  

OK, so how do I protect my site? 

I didn't know the answer to this question myself until a short 
while ago. For a quick free response I went to All Experts.com and
contacted one of their excellent legal volunteers Laura Moran.
I told her my story and this is what she said: "As a first step, 
please take the time to register your copyright with the Library 
of Congress. It's really not that time consuming, only costs $30 
and it's the only way you could ever sue" (not that this will come 
down to a suit, but its required to make one, and it takes a while).
Read about registering your copyright here:  

http://www.redpatent.com/copyrightRegistration.htm and then follow 
the links to the LOC where you can download the forms to do the 
registration. 


If you don't know that much about copyright law, you can read this 
too, so you feel more comfortable about what your rights are: 

http://www.redpatent.com/copyrightLaw.htm

And if you find someone infringing on your copyright she also says:

"Generally what one does is write them a demand letter telling 
them they are infringing on your rights and telling them to 
cease and desist of the infringing activities. If they stop, 
you should just let it drop from there." 

OK, so you want to know how I caught the Christmas thief?

It was very simple! But first I have to state that I am in no way 
affiliated with this service - it's just a great product! It has 
its limitations and kinks but doesn't everything? As I said in 
the first paragraph; I have Human Click (humanclick.com) in 
place on my pages. 

If they had ASKED to mirror my site I would have said yes, 
provided they left my copyright info and a link to my main page 
intact. My web host and I contacted theirs and the pages are now 
gone to make that story short.

The Internet is growing in massive numbers also with it are the 
number of new webmasters who want to create their own pages. 
Unless informed, much of that content could be yours!  Will you 
be competing with your own content?

On the other end, If you are taking content without permission, 
you are risking your reputation, web site, ISP(internet Service 
Provider), being fined and or imprisoned. 

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jackie Capps 
of... 
Personality Creations and All Letters.com
http://www.personality-creations.com 
Over 575 pages of family fun, crafts and holidays! 
http://www.allletters.com 
Custom personalized letters for all seasons and reasons! 

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