If you haven't done anything but send an e-mail to the person claiming your life story for himself, then you probably shouldn't expect much.

Instead, you might want to follow through with what you read on Google regarding its take-down procedure, for a start.

Also, the hosting company need not "live" in the same country as the domain's owner. Find the host, and follow its posted procedure, or provide it with a DMCA notice. (The DMCA must be complied with, if the host is in the US, and many other hosts are accepting DMCA notices, too.)

There is plenty of information available on copyrights and combatting plagiarism, starting with this forum's library [webmasterworld.com]. Do some research, and then take action.

Eliz.

I have emailed the webmaster of the forum, who would be unaware of the infringement.

I want to be reasonable to the webmaster who is unwittingly hosting my work.

It is the equivalent of me posting a chapter of your life story on WebmasterWorld, except that I have no connection with the forum in question or with any of its members.

I would be happy to allow a few paragraphs and a link to my original.

I will try a second email to the webmaster but if I get no reply it will be DMCA time.

I was wondering how long that process might take.

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[edited by: Samizdata at 6:28 pm (utc) on Aug. 15, 2008]

I was wondering how long that process might take.

If the DMCA itself doesn't specify the time frame within which a response is required, there's no telling.

Samizdata said: I would be happy to allow a few paragraphs and a link to my original.

Posting links to one's site is almost-certainly not allowed on this forum, so let's not do that. In any case, I don't think anybody is questioning your claim; the issue here is how to handle the claim.

Samizdata said: ...if I get no reply it will be DMCA time. I was wondering how long that process might take.

That depends on the webmaster, the service, the host, the way you write your letter, etc, etc. To my knowledge, the only restriction (on US-based hosts) is that action take place within a "reasonable" time frame.

Your idea of "reasonable" may differ from the host's. Mine usually does. *wink*

Eliz.

Your idea of "reasonable" may differ from the host's

We shall soon see.

I am trying to do this "webmaster to webmaster" as the owner of the forum is in the same position as anyone here at WebmasterWorld who runs a forum and does not pre-moderate the content.

I have no beef with any webmaster who is prepared to act on a complaint.

Posting links to one's site is almost-certainly not allowed on this forum

I am aware of the rules of WebmasterWorld.

I was talking about gaining a relevant inbound link and traffic to my site from theirs.

It would benefit me more than a simple takedown.

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Samizdata, I understand your desire to deal with this situation "webmaster to webmaster". May I enquire why you specifically ask as to how long the DMCA process might take? Is there a time related issue that we're not party to?

Syzygy

Is there a time related issue that we're not party to?

No - I simply have no experience of the process, in ten years I never needed it before.

I draw a big distinction between the idiot who copied my work and the webmaster who runs the forum it was posted on - I have run forums myself over the years and understand the position.

The pirated story in fact drew favourable comments and a five star recommendation from readers. Getting it edited to a couple of paragraphs and a link would be optimal for me, and would not require the webmaster in question to delete the entire thread that followed.

But I don't need a rival version battling for position on the search engines.

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Has the webmaster replied? Has a reasonable amount of time passed since the notification? If No and Yes then a DCMA to the ISP outlining the infringement will get the webmaster's attention. Then your dialogue can commence.

Do not allow TOO much water to pass under the bridge!

Samizdata,

I respect that you want to respect the innocent webmaster involved. However, after you've been through this a few times your attitude will probably change.

You can simply read a few of the other threads on this forum to see how there are many people who are ignorant of copyright law and basic moral business practices or they simply don't care. Even when confronted with facts, the law, etc. some will still bend over backwards trying to rationize and justify their actions.

The webmaster may be innocent, but part of the responsibility of operating a forum is to make sure things like this don't happen. If you don't get a quick response from the webmaster, I'd start the formal process as others have suggested. It takes as long as it takes - but once you start notifying Google, ISP's, etc of copyright issues you usually hear something back pretty soon.

By the way, I've followed a number of Instapundit's links to your blog entries.

FarmBoy

On my personal website I have published a section of my autobiography.

Is this a section of your autobiography that was originally published somewhere else - in a printed book maybe? Is that book copyrighted?

But I don't need a rival version battling for position on the search engines.

Are there a lot of people searching for your autobiography?

The entire text has been posted to a public forum without permission by a stranger.

Along with the copied text, did the person say bad things about you or try and use the copied autobiographical text to discredit you somehow?

FarmBoy

Are there a lot of people searching for your autobiography?

No, it is a quiet little personal site (though beautifully written).

It is a "vanity" publication, never published elsewhere, and is not monetized.

The stolen chapter is very interesting to the kind of person who would visit the busy forum it was posted on, and to their readers it is both highly entertaining and as on-topic as it gets.

The best outcome for me would be getting it changed to what it should have been in the first place - a couple of introductory paragraphs and a link to the full story and photographs on my site.

A reasonable webmaster would accept that, but I will only send two emails.

If I get no response I will want to call in the cavalry.

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I've followed a number of Instapundit's links to your blog entries

Sorry, I do not operate any blogs, you are reading someone else's.

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samizdata, the next thing I would do is contact the webhost. They will just email the webmaster, but s/he will not ignore an email from their webhost the way s/he might ignore one from a stranger, especially if it is in another language. You can find out the webhost by looking up the domain in whois. I would email the webhost, explain the situation, and ask that the page be removed immediately. I have done this with foreign sites, and I think it has not worked only once.

...I do not operate any blogs, you are reading someone else's.

Sorry, there is a blog with the same name as your WebmasterWorld username.

FarmBoy

Thanks to all who offered advice.

I emailed the infringing site twice and got no reply.

I then emailed the hosting company (in Nevada) seeking removal and got no reply.

I will not waste time on these steps in future, or suggest that others try them.

The content in question was 10,500 words in total - and they left my name on it.

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Are you now going to take formal action under DMCA?

I then emailed the hosting company (in Nevada) seeking removal and got no reply.

I have received great responses when invoking the DMCA. Google has a list of things needed in a DMCA, which makes a handy template for contacting a web host. If you didn't receive a response it may be that you did not follow their DMCA procedures, did not invoke their terms of service for their clients forbidding copyright violations, and/or did not use the correct email address specific to copyright violations. Click around the web hosts website as most hosts have a section dealing with this and procedures for accepting a takedown request.

This isn't something you can casually email to their support team. A webhost will likely have a protocal in place for dealing with this so try finding that and working according to their policies.

Good luck.

If all web based communication fails, there is always the Certified, Signature Required, SNAIL MAIL LETTER.

Include a demand of reply in 10 days of receipt or legal action will be taken against both provider and webmaster under DCMA.

I would suggest "DCMA REQUEST" is written on the outside of the envelope.

This isn't something you can casually email to their support team

Thanks, I did scour their website (in vain) and my approach was not casual at all.

Are you now going to take formal action under DMCA?

Done - the first time I have sent faxes for almost ten years.

My idea of "reasonable" will from now on be "shoot on sight".

Thanks again for all the suggestions

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Let us know what happens!

I wouldnt worry too much from an seo point of view - as long as your site has an ok page rank

Let us know what happens!

Apologies for the late response.

Google replied to my fax after four working days (by email) and two working days later the infringing site had been dropped from the relevant SERPs - a welcome and satisfactory result.

Yahoo never showed the the infringing site in their SERPs and I didn't check the minnows.

On the hosting front, I faxed the company associated with the site's IP address as shown in the WHOIS result for the domain - they had a designated DMCA agent listed on their main website.

I can't give details here but when I saw the name of the hosting company - and the actual name of the nameservers used - I felt less than optimistic. And I never did get a response from them.

But sometime later (a few weeks) the entire thread was removed.

Thanks to all who offered advice and support.

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