Photographers, writers such as poets or especially bloggers and many other types of content creator sometimes might do have their content unlawfully copied and reproduced with no permission. We are definitely aware of the value of intellectual properties and will take an instant action to make sure your rights are protected should the culprit be a website hosted on WordPress .com. Nevertheless, in case the subject of the complaint is on a website hosted elsewhere, we will not be able to take any immediate actions. It is essential for you to know the possible course of action that you are allowed to take, as a blogger on WordPress, to protect your copyrights.
To emphasize again, please kindly note that we are not able to take any actions if the allegedly infringing content is hosted elsewhere.
In this guide, we will take a look at How to determine Copyright Infringement to help you know more deeply about this topic.
How to determine Copyright Infringement
Here are those steps that you might take to file a DMCA notice, you should determine that your copyrighted content has been used in an unauthorized manner.
How to determine which content has been stolen
The question is: Is it an excerpt from one of your posts or an entire post?
Make note of the particular URLs which are involved: the URLs containing the copied material, which are the infringing URLs, together with URLs containing your original material if available (your own URLs).
How to confirm that the use of your material is not fair use
There are some fair use principles which must be considered as the law permits certain uses of material with no express permission.
To take an example, if a site has posted commentary on one of your writings, more specifically, your articles (could be like a book or film review), you may not want to proceed with submitting a DMCA notice. You are required to give consideration to whether a use of material is fair before submitting a takedown notification, as a result of the decision in Lenz v. Universal:
https://www.eff.org/press/releases/important-win-fair-use-dancing-baby-lawsuit
Please kindly note that WordPress.com support staff will NOT provide any kind of legal advice regarding what may and may not be considered copyright infringement.
Try to contact the site owner to request the removal of your content
We recognize that this job does not always work due to the fact that the owner of the infringing site might not show contact information, or they could ignore your requests.
How to determine if the site is hosted at WordPress
In the footer of the site, if there is a link that reads “Blog at WordPress .com” (linked to http://wordpress.com), that is to say, that it is hosted here.
Moreover, if you are signed into WordPress .com, you will see a black admin bar at the top of your screen when viewing other sites hosted on WordPress .com.
Note that sites using the WordPress .org software are NOT hosted by WP. You are allowed to learn more about the differences between WordPress.org and WordPress .com here.
Compose your formal notice and send it to the host
When submitting a DMCA, please notice to a web host such as WordPress.com or elsewhere because the person who published the reported materials has the ability to review the notice in its entirety. (Note that any infringement notices which are submitted via. our DMCA takedown or trademark infringement processes might be forwarded to the party that made that content available, or to a third party like ChillingEffects .org.)
Keep in mind that they forward it in as a whole to the owner of the particular blog or site publishing the reported materials, including some contact information you provide as you submit a DMCA notice to a web host.
We notice that you may not feel comfortable divulging your contact information to the user you’re filing against always. In these cases, you can appoint an agent to submit the DMCA notice on your behalf. You have the right to appoint anyone as the agent (such as lawyer, family member, copyright consulting firm, colleague, friend, etc.); just make sure that they provide valid contact information and identify you as the copyright holder they’re representing.
Conclusion
We hope that this detailed instruction on How to determine Copyright Infringement will be a great help for you to know the possible course of action that you are allowed to take in order to protect your copyrights. Once again, please kindly remember that we are not able to take any actions if the allegedly infringing content is hosted elsewhere.
