Thread: Has anybody plagiarized your web site?

I thought this might be a good time to equip dancers with some knowledge to help them prevent the theft of web site design and information that they have worked so hard to create.

First, here's a web tool that can help you find others who have stolen your text: Copyscape Plagiarism Checker - Duplicate Content Detection Software

Here's a boilerplate for a formal letter that you can send to the thief who stole material from your web site, posted an excerpt from your commercial video on youtube, etc.

The example below is what I sent to an actual web hosting company when someone stole an enormous amount of content from my web site and posted it on their own. The web hosting company is obligated by law to contact their client and ask them to remove the infringing content. If the client fails to do so, the hosting company is obligated to pull the plug on the offending web site until the situation is resolved.


(((Name of the offending company/dancer))) is infringing copyrighted data that is my property. I am the copyright owner of ____ being infringed at:

((provide the url on their web site that contains photos, text, or video stolen from you))

My original material, which is being infringed by you and your client, appears at:

((provide the url on your web site, or the title of your CD, DVD, etc.))

This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing ____ in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "expeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing copyrighted material upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.

I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Good to know, Shira. Thanks for posting all this. Usually, just contacting the offender is enough to settle the situation, but it's good to know what your options are if a firm-yet-professional e-mail doesn't work!

Thanks for the info Shira. Copyscape works for large chunks of plagiarism, but not the kind where the offender changes one or two adjectives in a sentence. Good place to start though!

Originally Posted by *Shira*

First, here's a web tool that can help you find others who have stolen your text: Copyscape Plagiarism Checker - Duplicate Content Detection Software

Thanks for the link!

Hmmm. I can't get copyscape to work. I keep getting an API error. Is it working for others? Is it because I am using Chrome?

ETA: Error message: Your search could not be completed, since the search API did not respond to Copyscape's requests.
Please try again or come back later if this keeps happening. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Hmmm. I can't get copyscape to work. I keep getting an API error. Is it working for others? Is it because I am using Chrome?

ETA: Error message: Your search could not be completed, since the search API did not respond to Copyscape's requests.
Please try again or come back later if this keeps happening. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I don't know. I was using Firefox, myself, and it worked fine for me. The other option is that there could have been a temporary problem on their site that began after I posted this.

I think it's important that everyone realizes that we, the owners of text plagiarized by someone else, have the power to have the offending site removed from the Internet until it removes the copied material.

I really like this letter - people need to realize that copyright infringement is not OK. Being firm and well-informed about the applicable law is a good way to make that point.

Originally Posted by andalee-oriental

Hmmm. I can't get copyscape to work. I keep getting an API error. Is it working for others? Is it because I am using Chrome?

Did you ever get that to work, Andalee? I tried Ffx and got the same message -

Originally Posted by anthea

Did you ever get that to work, Andalee? I tried Ffx and got the same message -

I got this message, too, and I'm in IE.

Thanks Shira, great info!

I have had my website bio heavily copied - what hurt most was that it was another dancer in the area that I was pretty close with. She took mine as a template and just filled in her experience for mine. I had to ask her to change up her wording.

Also, I was checking out Gigmasters this weekend, and found an area dancer on there that lifted 3 or 4 sentences directly from my bio! I contacted her immediately.

The best part? I think my bio stinks! If I had a gun to my head and was forced to plagiarize, the last bio I would use was my own!!!

Excellent info, thanks for posting this!

It appears that Google changed the interface used by companies who create these plagiarism checkers. It was fine last night, but today not only am I getting that error on CopyScape, I'm also getting it on another plagiarism checker. You might want to try again tomorrow.

Here's another plagiarism checker:

Turnitin Free. Plagiarism Checker. Plagiat. Online Duplicate Check

What do you do if somebody "heavily borrows" from your content, but doesn't directly plagiarize it? This happened to me recently and I resolved the problem for the most part just by diplomatically asking the offender to fix it. But if anything comes up in the future, is there any legal recourse for troublesome people of the "copycat-but-not-plagiarist" variety? I'm sure I'm probably S.O.L., but would like to hear some thoughts.

From a law site on the interwebs*:

"In order to bring a claim for copyright infringement, a plaintiff must establish (1) ownership of a valid copyright, and (2) copying of protected elements of the plaintiff’s work. Ordinarily, ownership is established by way of a copyright registration certificate and tends not to be the subject of much debate. Courts spend most of their time and effort analyzing the elements of the infringement prong. Absent evidence of direct copying, “proof of infringement” involves fact-based showings that the defendant had “access” to the plaintiff’s work and that the two works are “substantially similar.”"

source: The Complexity of Proving Copyright Infringement : IP Law Blog : California Intellectual Property Lawyer, Attorney, Law Firm : Weintraub Genshlea Chediak, Sacramento

* I have no idea if this is a reliable source or not, but even just googling "legal test for copyright infringement" brings up a lot of great resources.

ETA: Another good link: http://www.pixiq.com/article/derivat...-copyright-law

Yeah...."substantially similar" is kind of nebulous. And what's "substantially similar" to one person is "no resemblance at all" to another. I guess this is why intellectual property is such a dicey area of the law.

If I suspect something unusual, I keep tabs on the offender with screen captures of their site and mine. Jing.com has good software for this. My thinking is, if you can document a copy-stalker's activity with concrete evidence instead of e-mailing them to say, "Hey, your website is starting to look a lot like mine," then this at least gives you something a bit more tangible to work with, and lessens the chance that they'll accuse you of speculating or making things up. You don't need to do screen caps every day, but when you do major website updates or write a blog post that has gotten a good response, it might be a good practice.

Yes, this makes me feel like a paranoid person, and hopefully I never have to use any of these screen shots in a legal scenario, but it's better to protect your intellectual assets than not.

Great information everyone. I just wrote an article on plagiarism and how to behave like a professional belly dancer. You all seem much more knowledgeable about it than I am so please add to the blog. I have a feeling that most new pro dancers don't know it is wrong to plagiarize so I want to have something "out there" to inform them. Any help is appreciated and you'll get a website backlink :)

Belly Dance Brilliance Blog: How to Behave Like a Professional Belly Dancer (Part I)

Nyla's post is excellent. It's sad that newer dancers don't even seem to see anything wrong with plagiarism or blatant copying. And I'm glad that we're finally having this much-needed conversation, because I felt like I was the only person on earth who felt this passionately about protecting the written word.

Above and beyond the potential legal implications, it's bad branding. Why would you deny yourself the opportunity to put your best foot forward and show your ideal clients what makes YOU unique? There's less competition in a niche, and the more you differentiate yourself and drill down on your ideal clients, the more things will fall into place for you.

If you base your marketing model on what everyone else is doing, or what one other person is doing, then you can't be surprised when you get passed over for either a cheaper alternative (or the real deal).

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Above and beyond the potential legal implications, it's bad branding. Why would you deny yourself the opportunity to put your best foot forward and show your ideal clients what makes YOU unique? There's less competition in a niche, and the more you differentiate yourself and drill down on your ideal clients, the more things will fall into place for you.

If you base your marketing model on what everyone else is doing, or what one other person is doing, then you can't be surprised when you get passed over for either a cheaper alternative (or the real deal).

Customers don't always think in those terms. Maybe they only visit one web site. Maybe they don't realize that your content predated the other dancer's, thinking that you stole the text from her, not the other way around. Maybe they read the same thing twice on two different web sites and didn't even realize it.

There's a whole world of people out there who don't have any emotional investment in the integrity of the content of your web site. They don't care if a dancer steals other dancers' choreographies and bootlegs music, either. If you're lucky, a customer cares about the quality of your work and your ethnics as a professional, but sometimes all they care about is price or physical beauty.

None of this makes plagiarism okay, though...

Another thing to consider.... some dancers hire expensive public relations people to write the promotional text for their web sites. The dancers may pay these professional writers a great deal of money for the service.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

If you're lucky, a customer cares about the quality of your work and your ethnics as a professional, but sometimes all they care about is price or physical beauty.

Not my ideal customers. No candy or shimmies for them!

No, seriously? You're right, and that is a troublesome fact of "the biz." Still, integrity is the secret to a long-lasting career in dance, and that shouldn't stop us from doing everything we can to represent ourselves accurately, and in our own words.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Another thing to consider.... some dancers hire expensive public relationships people to write the promotional text for their web sites. The dancers may pay these professional writers a great deal of money for the service.

Yes! Most good copywriters start at $300 per page! A worthwhile investment for those (like me) who can't write good marketing material. If someone copied my website and used the copy I paid for to promote themselves, I would not let it go.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Here's another plagiarism checker:

Turnitin Free. Plagiarism Checker. Plagiat. Online Duplicate Check

I used this to find out someone has plagiarized one of my pages (a bhuzzer, and a pro dancer too). I emailed her and asked her to rewrite her page in her own words.

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

It's sad that newer dancers don't even seem to see anything wrong with plagiarism or blatant copying. And I'm glad that we're finally having this much-needed conversation, because I felt like I was the only person on earth who felt this passionately about protecting the written word.

It's not limited to newer dancers - there are lots of people, in general, that don't understand plagiarism. Ask any university professor!

Or, going back to your earlier question about "heavily borrowing" - that is substantially similar. If a friend or another dancer can read someone else's copy and say, "Hey, that's Satin's!" even if it's not word for word, it's close enough for me.

What's happened to me is this -
Fatima's site says "Fatima is so awesome and she collaborates with Dancer A, B, and C while still teaching lessons."

Copycat site says "Copycat is so awesome and she collaborates with Dancer D, E, and F. She still teaches lessons."

I concur with PhillyRaqs. Plagiarism is not just a newer dancer thing.

Also, different cultures have different perceptions on plagiarism. Some people genuinely do not know that plagiarizing is wrong.

Originally Posted by *Shira*

I think it's important that everyone realizes that we, the owners of text plagiarized by someone else, have the power to have the offending site removed from the Internet until it removes the copied material.

How timely, I was in the process of gathering info to write an article on this, as the issue has cropped up locally a few times just recently. Shira, do you know if this is an international law, or just applicable to the US? I'm in Australia, so trying to find out how things stand locally.

(Now, off to find a good article on the topic to plagiarize.... Just joking)

Originally Posted by jewelbellydance

How timely, I was in the process of gathering info to write an article on this, as the issue has cropped up locally a few times just recently. Shira, do you know if this is an international law, or just applicable to the US? I'm in Australia, so trying to find out how things stand locally.

(Now, off to find a good article on the topic to plagiarize.... Just joking)

My statement is specific to US law. I don't know what the international treaties are like.

See the Berne Convention:

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by *Shira*

Here's a boilerplate for a formal letter that you can send to the thief who stole material from your web site, posted an excerpt from your commercial video on youtube, etc.

The example below is what I sent to an actual web hosting company when someone stole an enormous amount of content from my web site and posted it on their own. The web hosting company is obligated by law to contact their client and ask them to remove the infringing content. If the client fails to do so, the hosting company is obligated to pull the plug on the offending web site until the situation is resolved.


(((Name of the offending company/dancer))) is infringing copyrighted data that is my property. I am the copyright owner of ____ being infringed at:

((provide the url on their web site that contains photos, text, or video stolen from you))

My original material, which is being infringed by you and your client, appears at:

((provide the url on your web site, or the title of your CD, DVD, etc.))

This letter is official notification under the provisions of Section 512(c) of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ("DMCA") to effect removal of the above-reported infringements. I request that you immediately issue a cancellation message as specified in RFC 1036 for the specified postings and prevent the infringer, who is identified by its Web address, from posting the infringing ____ in the future. Please be advised that law requires you, as a service provider, to "expeditiously remove or disable access to" the infringing copyrighted material upon receiving this notice. Noncompliance may result in a loss of immunity for liability under the DMCA.

I have a good faith belief that use of the material in the manner complained of here is not authorized by me, the copyright holder, or the law. The information provided here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. I swear under penalty of perjury that I am the copyright holder of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Please send me at the address noted below a prompt response indicating the actions you have taken to resolve this matter.

Thank you for posting this here (and sending it to me a few months ago!). I used a letter like this for a site that had copied parts of my site onto EVERY page of their site, and this kind of letter got them to take down my info.