Stealing. But why?

Okay, so A Collection of Cooking Recipes was stealing my content. (http://cooking-recipes-collection.blogspot.com/)

I complained and complained and finally, their ads were taken down.

But, they continue to steal my content.

And this site (http://www.choicecooking-recipes.com/2008/03/31/spring-corn-soup-with-chive-biscuits/) too, but again, no ads.

Any thoughts on WHY if they aren't getting any revenue?

Thanks,
Rachael


This Post was written by Rachael at Fresh Approach Cooking

Reporting Content Theft

So, if anyone is stealing your content...here is what Blogger says to do...sorry if this has been covered before!

Watch out Collection of Cooking Recipes, here I come!

*******

Hello,

It is our policy to respond to notices of alleged infringement that comply
with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (the text of which can be found
at the U.S. Copyright Office website: http://lcWeb.loc.gov/copyright/ )
and other applicable intellectual property laws, which may include
removing or disabling access to material claimed to be the subject of
infringing activity.

To file a notice of infringement with us, you must provide a written
communication (by fax or regular mail, not by email) that sets forth the
items specified below. Please note that pursuant to that Act, you may be
liable to the alleged infringer for damages (including costs and
attorneys' fees) if you materially misrepresent that you own an item when
you in fact do not. Indeed, in a recent case (please see
http://www.onlinepolicy.org/action/legpolicy/opg_v_diebold/ for more
information), a company that sent an infringement notification seeking
removal of online materials that were protected by the fair use doctrine
was ordered to pay such costs and attorneys fees. The company agreed to
pay over $100,000. Accordingly, if you are not sure whether material
available online infringes your copyright, we suggest that you first
contact an attorney.

To expedite our ability to process your request, please use the following
format (including section numbers):

1. Identify in sufficient detail the copyrighted work that you believe has
been infringed upon. This must include identification of specific posts,
as opposed to entire sites. Posts must be referenced by either the dates
in which they appear or the permalink of the post. For example,
http://example.blogspot.com/archives/2003_01_21_example_archive.html#2104575.

2. Identify the material that you claim is infringing upon the copyrighted
work listed in item #1 above.

YOU MUST IDENTIFY EACH POST BY PERMALINK OR DATE THAT ALLEGEDLY CONTAINS
INFRINGING MATERIAL. The permalink for a post is usually found by clicking
on the timestamp of the post.

3. Provide information reasonably sufficient to permit Blogger to contact
you (email address is preferred).

4. Include the following statement: "I have a good faith belief that use
of the copyrighted materials described above on the allegedly infringing
web pages is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the
law."

5. Include the following statement: "I swear, under penalty of perjury,
that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the
copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an
exclusive right that is allegedly infringed."

6. Sign the paper.

7. Send the written communication to the following address:

Google, Inc.
Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA complaints
1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy
Mountain View, CA 94043

OR Fax to:

(650) 618-2680, Attn: Blogger Legal Support, DMCA complaints

Sincerely,
The Blogger Team

How to Fight Against Content Scrapers

Here is a great post from ProBlogger about How to Fight Content Scrapers. Much of this information has previously appeared on Food Blog S'Cool, but this post gathers it together into one place. Hope it is useful.

This Post was written by Kalyn from Kalyn's Kitchen

[copyright issues, photos] asking, after the fact

I spent a good chunk of my weekend filing AdWords complaints against splogs and sending certified letters to the hosts of a number of photo-pirates, and I realize that I am so angry that I am not thinking straight. I would love some objective advice.

Someone who hijacked one of my more-popular images -- which I have since removed from our site, to counteract the thousands of views a day this image was getting -- has written to me and asked me if he can continue to use the photo if he links to our site. I get the feeling he's not a true splogger, but he does have a TON of AdWords placements on his site, and I am annoyed that he is profiting from my work. (He's at supersizedmeals-dot-com, and he does seem to have taken down my photo, which is nice to see.)

The irony is that if he'd asked first, I might have said yes. But in my anger, I don't feel like an apology and a link are sufficient. Thoughts?

(And yes, I'm already including copyright info in both my image titles and ALT tags, and I am going to start watermarking as soon as I get my hands on a copy of Photoshop.)

This post was written by Anita from Married...with Dinner

[splog] Recipe Reports "borrowing" your content?

This morning I noticed inbound traffic on my WordPress dashboard coming from RecipeReports-dot-com (I'm intentionally not linking to them here to avoid raising their GoogleRank). Turns out, it's a massive splog.

In a post I put up just last night, I also see plenty of "borrowed" content from other food blogs, including Simply Recipes and Serious Eats. You may want to head over there and see if any of it is yours.

This Post was written by Anita from Married ...with Dinner

My comic titles stolen

First, thanks to Kalyn and Faith for helping me figure out how to create posts. (Wow that was confusing for a non-Blogger account person!)

Anywho--I have a problem. I have created some "comics" ono my blog called Rookie Cookery. One of my comics is titled "Attachment Issues". The comics are accessable via links on the left hand nav bar on my site.

Recently I Googled my blog name and was surprised to see a LINK with this title: "Rookie Cookery comics attachment issues" , and with an unfamiliar url attached to the link. I clicked on the link and was taken to a completely different comic by someone else. Essentially it was "bait and switch". It was especially annoying because the link goes right to the comic, not their web site. I had to mess with their url to finally get to their site, which of course does not allow comments and my emails are rejected.

Do I have any recourse? It's maddening! It would be like if someone called their site Food Blog ScHool, knowing that adding the H would confuse and draw people away from this site to theirs. Only it is worse because the link loads a comic and I don't want people think it is my comic.

My blog url is

If you Google "Rookie Cookery" , about the eighth link is the fake one that says rookie cookery comix attachment issues-- ripping off my comic title.

Am I railing against the wind?

[Photography] How can I ID my photos?

.
I am wondering if someone can explain (in really basic language) how I can put a watermark or other identifier on the pictures I post on my site. (Like Mae does. Or Sam. Both of whom seem to be really photo-savvy.)

Since my pictures show up on other sites with some frequency, I'd like to have them identified as mine.

I am NOT tech savvy, and don't have Photoshop. Is there any other really basic (PC) method I could use to do this? I edit my pictures with Picasa.

Thanks in advance...(and sorry if this was discussed before...I did a search, but for some reason with new blogger, the "search" function doesn't work for me anymore.)

This Post was written by Rachael from Fresh Approach

Yahoo Stealing Food Blog Content

Indira, at the extremely resourceful Indian cooking blog Mahanandi, has been bringing to light the abuses Yahoo has been dishing out on Indian food bloggers.

In particular, Yahoo has recently launched an Indian portal that has lifted recipes, word-for-word with no credit and no links to the food blog they came from.

Surya Gayathri has outlined the instances of Yahoo being caught red-handed via screen shots on her blog, kariveppila.

Yahoo's "apology" this week points the finger at a content provider middleman Webdunia. Indira points out that Yahoo has yet to apologize to Ms. Gayathri and more unreported instances of stealing are still coming to light from more bloggers.

I urge us to not dismiss this as an issue only of Indian food bloggers. These are instances of Yahoo stealing content from foodbloggers- something that we are all concerned with.

Please voice your concern to Yahoo*.

By mail:
Copyright Agent
c/o Yahoo! Inc.
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089

By phone:
(408) 349-5080

By fax:
(408) 349-7821

By email:
copyright@yahoo-inc.com

*provided contact points are for Yahoo's Media Relations Dept.

Blog Posts:
Dining Hall: Is It a Joke
Mahanandi: Yahoo ~ Fight Is Not Yet Over
Mahanandi: Indian Newspapers, Yahoo India - Stop Stealing from Food Bloggers


This Post was written by McAuliflower at Brownie Points Blog