Competition is Good, Copying is Bad
by Sharon Housley
Published on this site: July 15th, 2005 - See
more articles from this month...
I've always been of the opinion that competition is a good
thing. It encourages all of us to be better and make better
products. While it might be true that imitation is the sincerest
form of flattery, copying someone else's work is simply wrong.
We recently came across a competitor using our sales copy.
The competitor was using a web graph showing the traffic on
one of our sites, along with our sales copy to promote their
competing application. Digging a little further, I realized
that their competing application was, in both form and function,
identical to our application. The competing program contained
identical screenshots, custom program icons and our help documentation.
While the code of the program was, in fact, different, it
was clear that our copyright had been violated.
We are not the first company to have our copyright violated
and once the initial emotional reaction passed, we took action.
Dealing With Copyright or Trademark Violations:
Who, What and Where Before reacting, it is important to do
homework and research the alleged content violator. Arm yourself
with information. Determining the who, what and where will
guide you in taking the appropriate steps.
Determine WHO is violating your copyright
Research the website: do a Whois lookup to determine
the site's owner. The domain owner can be found by entering
the domain into http://www.whois.com
and clicking on the link that says "Whois Lookup".
If the copyright on software has been violated, check the
PAD file for the author and release date.
Determine WHERE the website hosting is located Determine
where the website is hosted. Web hosts located in progressive
countries will be more cooperative in addressing copyright
violations. After determining the webhost's location, check
the host's Terms of Service (TOS) and Acceptable Use Policy
(AUP) to determine the level of cooperation you will likely
receive. More often than not, a physical address and detailed
information on how to report an abuse claim will be found
in the webhost's terms of service.
Determine exactly WHAT violations have occurred. When determining
if a copyright violation has occurred, it is important to
go back to the question of what constitutes a copyright violation.
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the laws of
the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to the authors of
"original works of authorship." This work can be
literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, or similar intellectual
works. Copyright protection is available to both published
and unpublished works. It is illegal for anyone to violate
any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the owner
of copyright. It is important to note that ideas can not be
copywritten, and while it may be morally and ethically questionable,
cloning a software application is not a copyright violation,
yet copying a helpfile is a copyright violation.
Copyright protection exists from the time the work is created
in fixed form. The copyright in the work of authorship immediately
becomes the property of the author who created the work. Only
the author or those deriving their rights through the author
can rightfully claim copyright. Evaluate the violator's work
to determine if text, graphics or any of the program or website's
artistic qualities are the same as your creative works. Print
hard copies of any documents and save electronic versions
of web pages and executables. Capture screenshots of offenses,
save documentation or the Help file that contains any duplications
of text. Enter the URL of the offending
website into http://www.archive.org
to see the website's history and determine a timeline during
which violations occurred. Look and feel can be subjective,
try to focus on obvious or flagrant violations. Copied text
or Help files is obvious when filing a complaint with web
hosts or other third parties.
What is Next?
If you feel your copyright has, in fact, been violated there
are a number of steps that you can take. Contacting third
party service providers is a good starting point. Make a list
of the providers with whom you can contact to report the violations.
- Hosting
- Online Ordering
- If Software, Download Sites
- Associations or Organizations
Aside from service providers, consider using existing relationships
with parties who have a mutual interest or relationship with
the other party. Often, knowing key people can result in a
rapid response and increased dialogue with the purported offender.
Send simultaneous emails to each of the parties identified.
Include details of the violation; using a PDF that displays
screen captures or copies of text violations with website
pointers is helpful. In the email, explain the action you
wish to occur. If you want the web host to remove the website,
say so. Also, ask that they keep you apprised of the situation.
In most cases you will receive responses from webhosts or
registration services that require you to provide additional
details so that the infringement can be investigated. It may
seem obvious to the copyright holder, but the web hosts typically
have a contractual agreement with their clients and are legally
obligated to research any infringements before removing hosting
or registration services.
Send a Cease and Desist letter and an email detailing that
a copyright has been violated, include a reasonable deadline
by which the offending copy or application should be removed.
It is not necessary to provide the offender the details of
the violation, as it is likely they are already aware of the
offenses that have occurred. These actions will generally
open a dialogue with the offender. If the offender ignores
requests to remove the material that infringes on your copyright,
pursue action with third party services. This will likely
get the offender's attention.
Artists, developers, and writers all work hard to create
unique material and copyrights should be respected by all.
Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll http://www.feedforall.com
software for creating, editing, publishing RSS feeds and podcasts.
In addition Sharon manages marketing for NotePage http://www.notepage.net
a wireless text messaging software company.
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