Quit The Internet Copyright Paranoia
March 20, 2008
Are you guilty of Internet Copyright paranoia? I read a comment on a writers forum recently. The writer was working for peanuts and someone advised her that since the site she was writing for wasn’t prepared to pay her much, they might rip her off. And it was advised that she should make sure she put a copyright symbol all over her work. I’ve read a lot of stuff like this on the Internet and it’s complete paranoia
Whilst it’s always sensible to confirm what rights to your work you’re actually selling, you don’t need to put a copyright on your work - ever. It belongs to you as soon as you’ve written it. And I doubt whether a copyright symbol is going to stop someone plagiarising your work anyway. A thief is a thief. If you put a sign on your car, saying: “please don’t steal my car”, it’s unlikely to deter a thief. But, I’m guessing a whole bunch of people would think you were a paranoid fruitcake.
You don’t need to put the copyright symbol on your website or blog either. But I think some websites, including this one, lead people to believe the copyright symbol is necessary. The truth is, I only have the copyright symbol on my website for SEO (search engine optimization) purposes. I get search engine traffic for my own name, so having my name at the bottom of the page helps. I suspect many other people do this too, but others see it and believe they must have a copyright symbol to protect the work on their websites. You can relax, because it simply isn’t true.
Whatever you write, whether it’s a blog post, a novel, or even a letter, it’s owned by you as soon as you’ve written it - so it isn’t necessary to use the copyright symbol. The only exceptions would be when you’ve been paid by someone to write something specifically for them - eg. a business manual, or if you’ve written something at work, in your employers time.
The bad news is, people have work plagiarised all the time - especially on the Internet. And if this happens to your work, you have every right to be annoyed because it’s theft.
If you’re concerned that your work may have been plagiarized by others, check out these resources:
- Has Your Content Been Plagiarised?
- Create Internal Links - Avoid Plagiarism
- Plagiarism Defined
- Plagiarism And The Internet
Have you had your work plagiarised before? Or have you accidentally or deliberately plagiarised someone else’s work? Did you know that it’s a jailable offence? And have you been guilty of Internet Copyright Paranoia in the past?
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19 Responses to “Quit The Internet Copyright Paranoia”
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Good reminder, Cath! I’m torn on this one.
How do you feel about copyright notices on eBooks that will be distributed online without DRM? I’m putting the finishing touches on one right now and have got “check legal stuff” on my to-do list!
Nick Cernis’s last blog post..Writing Things Down (WTD): 13 Reasons To Switch Back To Paper Today
Catherine, thanks for clarifying the misconceptions about copyrights.
I love the message to stop being paranoid about it. If you write while focused on fear & scarcity, you waste an incredible amount of energy being negative and the writing will show it.
I love the mindset of abundance that Leo of ZenHabits demonstrates. He gave up all copyrights on his material and has continued to pick up big opportunities.
sterling | bizlift’s last blog post..Walking On Water Miracle Revealed. You Won’t Believe Your Eyes.
I’m with you Catherine–a copyright notice isn’t going to deter a thief. Nothing wrong with having one if you like the way it looks or for SEO purposes, but it’s not going to protect you.
Another thing I see is comment policies that read like a legal document, and end with “by posting here you agree to these terms.” It’s fine to have a comment policy, but don’t count on it to protect you. People aren’t going to say “I hate this person. I’m going to leave the nastiest comment in the history of the…oh wait, they don’t allow nasty comments.”
And some people really don’t understand copyright. Before Leo of Zen Habits gave up his copyrights, I saw someone leave him a comment, innocently asking if it would be alright if they put his entire post on their blog.
Hunter Nuttall’s last blog post..The Rules For Providing Value
Hi Catherine,
I think for most, the copyright symbol on any site is a good reminder that the material belongs to the author. I, for one, think it makes the site “look” authentic and may even add a touch of professionalism.
When I first started blogging, I had my whole blog copied. I ended up blocking that IP address. Not that that would stop them, but for awhile, it made me feel better.
I also believe I’ve have posts “rehashed” so to speak, but I don’t have the time to be checking and double checking. Now I think of it as a compliment.. If what I write is so compelling that someone wants to “rehash” it (thanks for the new word, Hunter), then, go for it.
Thieves will be thieves, and if you’re online, it’s inevitable from time to time your content will be plagiarized If it bothers a person that much, then a blog or website is not the place to publish their writings.
Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Hi Catherine,
I forgot to thank you for the links to my blog posts.
Thank you!!!!!!
Barbara Swafford’s last blog post..A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
@ Nick - to be honest, I think if someone wants to pirate your book, they’re going to do it whether you put a copyright symbol on or not. Even if you did use DRM, if they wanted to they’d copy it. But, I wouldn’t let that worry you too much. After all, if you catch them you can do something to stop them.
I would just put a copyright notice in the front as you would find in a real book. So when is the book coming out? Will you be advertising it on Putting Things Off?
@ Sterling - I’m interested in what Leo is doing. He’s definitely going against convention allowing others to use his work. Some people have said he may be penalised for duplicate content but Josh Spaulding blogged about this recently at: http://ez-onlinemoney.com/blog/ and it seems that the duplicate content thing may not be an issue after all.
@ Hunter - that is a good point - many people just don’t understand copyright at all. I’m wondering if it might be worth doing a post on fair usage and how to properly reference or quote someone?
@ Barbara - you are welcome for the links. They helped me provide valuable further reading resources. I see what you mean about looking professional and that is another good reason for using the copyright symbol.
Having your whole blog copied is terrible. I have definitely seen what I believe to be others rehashing your posts and I often make sure I make a comment in the comments section, to say that you blogged about that topic recently. I think that is another thing people don’t realise. If you use one post as your only source of research and just reword it, you are still breaking the copyright law.
I’ll go after someone who’s stealing every post, but I don’t bother to put more than a note in the footer of my blog. So that I can say “Yes, I really did want to maintain copyright you d-bag.”
But there’s no point in doing more. Well, I know someone who puts a think in her feed that says that if you’re reading this not on her site or her feed it’s a scraping. Which would show up on copied posts….but I don’t think it’s worth it.
Hi Mrs M - Good point. You really can’t afford to risk offending your readers, or distracting them from what you’re trying to say for the sake of warning people not to steal from you.
You’re right about copyright. It’s yours from the moment you write it. I think most people put copyright symbols out of habit or ignorance. Like you said, a symbol won’t protect you.
But in this age of open source, it does at the very least advise people of the usage rights. Many people wonder about reprint rights, bylines, quoting, etc. So they see the copyright symbol and may be more careful about asking permission. (Scammers aside.)
In our case, it’s just there because it’s there. Old habits die hard. It doesn’t protect us. Looks good, though!
James Chartrand - Men with Pens’s last blog post..Fiction Writing: Should You Plot Your Plot?
Hi James - that is a good point - it may deter people who don’t have a clue from pinching from you, if they’re honest to begin with.
The trouble is on the Internet - it’s so easy for people to copy and paste stuff, without working out whether they’re supposed to be doing it isn’t it? The same people probably wouldn’t go to the trouble of typing out chunks of text from a book.
I’ll have you know you had me sputter a chuckle in surprise as I read this post
“Please don’t steal my car”
I imagined this with a sad/hopeful smilie drawn on JEMi style seeing that I am addicted to emoticons
lol
That being said I personally never put the copyright symbol on my site because (now this was an assumption on my part) all my works are on my site, its written in my personal style and if someone thought to snatch and paste, well I think I’d be able to show plenty of proof that its .. well.. JEMi stuff
LOL to Hunter’s comment - sigh - you guys are quite funny
Oh and Barbara - that’s HORRIBLE that your entire blog was copied!
When I see a copyright symbol on a blog, in the very least, it does remind me to think “this stuff is protected”. You know when it seems “paranoid” and weirds me out?
When theres like a huge copyright and explanation in Bold, caps, and or exclamation marks about the terrible thing that is plagiarism on … a very personal blog
You know, something about what that person had for breakfast, and they’re really cute little dog
I’ve seen this on occasion and I’ve always found that strange.
JEMi | Tips for Life, Love, You’s last blog post..Stripped: Vulnerability In Love
Hi JEMi - I know what you mean - I’ve also seen some strange and long paragraphs warning people of what will happen if they plagiarise. And some of them are quite scary.
re:”You don’t need to put the copyright symbol on your website or blog either. But I think some websites, including this one, lead people to believe the copyright symbol is necessary.”
Sorry to disagree with you, but when it comes to U.S. copyright law, a person would be wise to display the copyright symbol along with the original date of publication. Reason: the mere fact that you own the copyright to your own published works is practically meaningless if you find yourself in the position of having to reign in a thief (an individual who is guilty of copyright infringement). In order to put yourself in the position of being able to pursue statutory damages, it needs to be clear to the federal court of jurisdiction that you have asserted copyright over your published works. And displaying the copyright symbol along with your original date of publication is simply one tool for accomplishing that goal.
Why do you need “to be in the position of being able to pursue statutory damages”? Because unless you can convince the infringer that you have the potential to extract significant costs and damages in court, you have very little leverage to convince the infringer to settle, or at least to stop infringing and to comply with a cease and desist request.
Hi Tim - That seems drastic. And it also seems a little unfair that you should have to prove that you didn’t want someone to steal something you actually own.
Do you know anyone who this has actually happened to?
Hello again Cath.
It’s interesting isn’t it? Personally I believe that anyone can have my stuff to do what they like with. The reason being; that if you have to pinch stuff you will soon get caught out when you have to talk about it with your punters.
Marketing, strategies, design, depend not only on having great motivational copy but to know how to discuss it also.
Individual syntax easily reveals to a smart punter that what was written hasn’t come from the mouth they hear it from.
From my point of view, there is very little that hasn’t been written, designed or created that hasn’t in some form been done before.
The problem I believe is when a blatant copy and paste is used.
So lets not worry about people taking our stuff. They get caught out sooner or later. Take the creative. Take the substance. But for crying out load, rewrite the stuff in your own style.
Another nice post Cath.
lets get on with what we do best. Those that copy are already behind. We just move on to even more new and exiting creative copy and ideas.
Take good care. The Baldchemist
Just another thought. I hate cliches but the old one about being copied is the finest form of flattery sits well with me.
Our site is for information only. For our punters. so there is nothing to buy; neither are we interested in having buttons tell me that I am the 30000000000 visitor.
By the way, how on Earth are you going to sue some bastard that pinches your stuff?
Get on with what you do best and feel flattered when someone thinks your stuff is so good.
Stirling is right. Dont waste your time and energy searching and wondering . Just write great compelling stuff.
By the way, we have opened a new office in Linkoping Sweden for tose who are interested.
The Baldchemist
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