I’ve been having a lot of trouble with copyright infringement lately. In the past few weeks, I have noticed multiple blogs and sites copying my reviews and stealing my RSS feed. Many are spam blogs, but a disturbing few have been legitimate. As a result, I’ve done some research on copyright infringement and thought I’d share what I’d learned with all of you - hopefully it’s helpful!
I’m hosting this 3-part series along with Jennifer of Literate Housewife, so please hop on over there and see what she has to say. While we are writing on the same subjects, we each have our own take on the topics. Please note that this is not legal advice - this is just the information I have found while searching the internet and consulting a lawyer.
Copyright Infringement FAQ
What exactly is copyright infringement?
Copyright infringement is when someone steals your content without your permission. It can be a book review, a blog post, a picture you took or created, or your custom template (please note that this is a CUSTOM template only - if you paid for your template or designed/modified it yourself. If you got a free template from a website, then it is actually copyrighted by the designer.)
What about an idea I had for a meme, event, challenge? If someone has copied the idea, changed the name, but kept everything else?
Unfortunately, this is not covered by copyright infringement. Unless they copied and pasted the post in which you announced your idea (in which case, you can get the post removed), your best recourse in this case would be an open discussion with the person in question.
What is the most common form of copyright infringement?
Mostly copyright infringement comes through spam blogs. These are blogs that steal the RSS feeds of legitimate blogs and publish them on their own sites.
I found a spam blog that is stealing my RSS feed, but they are only pulling a partial feed. Is this still copyright infringement?
Maybe. It’s difficult to say because there’s no clear line between copyright infringement and fair use. However, if it bothers you, you still can make a legitimate case to get it taken down.
What’s fair use? What does it cover?
Fair use basically says that a limited amount of copyrighted work can be used without fear of punishment. For the specifics of fair use, and the standards that must be considered when determining when something is fair use versus copyright infringement, you can visit the U.S. Copyright Office’s webpage on the issue. Fair use is what protects book bloggers when we use quotations from books in our reviews.
If I want to quote another blogger’s post or review, is that covered by fair use?
Yes, it would be. I always maintain that it’s a good idea to check with someone before using their content, but you could use a short quote without fear of legal repercussions.
What about linking to someone’s post? Is that copyright infringement?
Definitely not - you can link to someone else’s content without any fear of reprisal, as long as you don’t copy it and paste it on your site.
I was looking for an image to make a button or to more aptly illustrate a post (for example, writing a review of a book about the Taj Mahal, and pulling an image to use to make the post look better), so I just looked on Google Images and used it. Is that copyright infringement?
Unfortunately, it probably was. Some images are available for use under the Creative Commons license, but you can’t tell whether that’s the case in Google Images. If you’re looking for a picture to use for a button, I suggest searching public domain databases (easily found through a Google search). For photographs, Flickr is a great resource. In their advanced search, you can search only creative commons licensed images. Once you perform the search (for example, Taj Mahal search results), there will likely be quite a few options to choose from. Once you find one you like (this one), look on the right hand side of the page. About 3/4 of the way down, there will be a “License” section, which, if you click on it, will tell you what you can do with the picture and how you can use it. In this case, the picture says “Some Rights Reserved”, and upon further inspection, it means I can use the picture on my blog as long as I attribute the original owner, and as long as it’s not a commercial use.
I realize this seems much more cumbersome than a quick Google Images search, but imagine how you’d feel if you saw your review on someone else’s website, used to make their post better. Using public domain and creative commons licensed images ensures that there is no content stealing, however inadvertently!
Someone copied my entire post without asking me, but claimed it wasn’t copyright infringement because they credited me and linked to my site. Are they right?
Absolutely not! This is something that has happened multiple times to me, and it is definitely copyright infringement. There are many people who labor under the illusion that it’s okay to use other people’s content as long as they give credit to the original author. This isn’t the case.
That’s it for Part 1. Wednesday, I’ll post Part 2, which will cover how to find infringing posts, and on Friday, Part 3, which will deal with what to do once you’ve found someone stealing your content.
25 comments:
I am assuming these legalities apply in a much different ways to bloggers not based in the USA and not directly governed by the copyright laws of the USA-
This is so great! Perfect questions with clear answers, I can't wait to see posts 2 and 3.
Will part of your posts tell us how to officially copyright our blogs/posts (currently I just have a copyright statement at the bottom of my posts, but I haven't officially registered my blog anywhere).
Thanks for all this information, Swapna. I had a question similar to Mel U's - what if the spam blog isn't in the US? Some days I get several of those picking up my post.
Helen - In post 2, I do address that in a small way. You actually don't technically need to have any sort of copyright notice on your blog, your content is yours. However, I still think it's a good idea.
Mel U - If you're outside the US, but the person stealing your content has a host based in the US (in my experience, this is usually the case), then the actions you can take actually still do apply! If the web host of the person stealing your content is not based in the US, what you can do is limited to the host country's laws, whether you live in the US or not.
Bermudaonion - I'll cover what you can do if a blog's host is not US based in the third post!
Great post, and very correct. I had to trademark the word Bookalicious because blogs keep popping up using my name and review style. I have yet to ask any to cease and desist but I will if I need to.
Great information here -- thank you so much. I can't wait to learn more.
I'd like advice on how to find sites that steal your content.
This is great information. I can't believe that some people think it is okay to take someone else's work and pass it off as their own. And it's on the internet. Did they think you wouldn't see it? This is disgraceful. I found the information about the google images interesting though. Something to think about for sure. I can't want to read your next post.
Great post, Swapna. It's a pity we need to think about this but it happens so much.
I've found Wiki Commons to be a god-send. Asking the owner is easy too, and most often they say yes.
Our posts are really complimentary. I like what you say about Google images. I need to go back and make sure I'm on the up and up myself. Thanks for the advice on advanced search, too.
Great summary of copyright law basics. I'll point out that many non-U.S. nations have adopted the Berne Convention for copyrights, and so, in many cases, their legal regime will be fairly similar to that in the U.S. I don't think many have adopted anything like the DMCA, so the takedown notice procedures wn't be the same, but the basic parameters of what is copyrighted and what would constitute "fair use" should remain pretty close to the same.
Aaron (Dreaming About Other Worlds).
This is so useful! Thank you so much for going into this! Maybe I'm supposed to know this, but how are you finding these people who are stealing your stuff? I have google anayltics set up to search anytime the name of my blog is mentioned or my url. Is that enough?
Aaron - Thanks so much for the info. I didn't know that, and it's extremely helpful.
Amused - That's Wednesday's topic! Check back then for an entire post on how to find those infringers!
Hi Swapna
This is really helpful. What about images of book covers - which are our bread and butter? Do the same rules apply?
Lyndsey
Lyndsey - Book covers are complicated, which is why I didn't include them in the fair use part. Generally speaking, a thumbnail of a book cover is covered under fair use. That being said, if a self-published author (for example) took a photograph and designed a book cover and then DMCA'd you to remove it after writing a negative review, I'd do it. It's not really clear where the line is, but with regular publishers (both large and small), you're fine using book covers.
this information is so great to have! Thank you for breaking down the confusing realm of copyright infringement and answering questions in such a clear, concise manner! What a fantastic resource!
Great post -- thanks!
Thanks for calling attention to this important issue...this information is very helpful.
However, I think with the pervasiveness of the Internet, this will always be an issue for bloggers, photographers, etc.
quite a helpful post! i recently changed my avatar and twitter images because i learned that using another image (found readily on the internet) was CI. instead, i now use my own photo of my pink typewriter...and i avoid stepping on toes or stealing. thanks for all the info!!
Thanks for all this info! It so happened that when I started blogging I used to add images and book covers from google images! Will be more careful now:)
Can't wait to read the part 3 of this post.
-Archana
Archana & Nat - It is so easy to just use Google Images - I used to do it all the time before I discovered there was a copyright issue.
This is really useful stuff...question on the spam blog copying RSS feed. How do you find out? Is it all those vague blogs that backlink to you?
nishitak - That's exactly what they are. In the next post I'll discuss how to find them!
Thanks so much for this information. I don't normally pay attention to these issues and now I realize I should. I'm looking forward to #2 and 3.
this is so informative and helpful! Love the whole series of articles, am bookmarking them for future reference as well!
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