A friend of mine and I are writing a collaborative story. Each taking a different chapter and writing. We figured we would post it on a blog for anyone to read along as we go. It's basically for fun nd for practice, but we got to thinking, should we be doing anything to protect it? know everything thinks their stuff is a masterpiece, but what if someone likes the idea and steals it? Should we be copywriting this? If so, how does one go about that since it is a work in progress?
Isn't a blog automatically under some sort of license that protects everything you write or post as your own and cannot be reproduced or used? It's the equivalent of having your picture taken on the street and used for whatever.
Inevitably, if your blog is popular something will be stolen from it. Here are a few simple things to remember for when it happens: -The moment you post something it is protected. You created it, and nobody can legally reproduce it -Have an official copyright notice. This isn't required and doesn't grant you additional rights, but it's a good reminder that it is your intellectual property. Having a small notice in your blog's footer so it appears on every page is a great deterrent -Create a separate page on your blog that explicitly states what people have permission to do with your writing -Honestly more often then not people aren't trying to steal your writing, they just wanted to re-post something they enjoyed. If you ask people to take down something of yours they've copied they usually will. If they don't then investigate who their hosting service is using something like DomainTools and e-mail the hosting service with your complaint. If it is a legitimate hosting service they will investigate, and if they agree will ask the offender to take down your work. If at that point they fail to comply their site will often be shut down. Hope this is of some help to you!
I am fine with excerpts if someone really likes a quote. As long as credit is given. I just don't want someone claiming it as their own work, when we are the ones up until 3 a.m. writing. I do have a page discussing the inspiration of our story, (which over 10k words in and we still haven't gotten to that scene lol). Perhaps I should post a copyright disclaimer there? Or a separate page entirely?
I'd suggest slapping a copyright notice right on your template, so that it appears on every page. Not that I do that, but I'm pretty casual about my blog. Edited to add: Not that that will stop people from stealing your content. I just guess that it might make DMCA takedown notices and that sort of thing a fraction more straightforward.
Neither of the above grant you any additional rights, they simply serve as a deterrent. However, if it makes you feel more secure you could have a separate page explicitly stating what people do and do not have permission to do with your posts.
My bigger concern is my stuff being used to make someone else money. I've run into this problem before when my image was stolen off of a website I had given permission to use for their product. The owner of the product had not relinquished her rights to the photograph and neither did I and yet, suddenly friends were contacting me about another product, asking me if it really was that good. Somehow, I was on another website hailing the greatness of this other product I had no knowledge of and they were making quite a bit of cash off of my image. Neither I, nor the original user of the image were given royalties and it took business away from her. That is what I hope to avoid. I write for fun not for cash. I hope others enjoy what I write, but ultimately, if anyone is to make money off of my musings, it should be me.
@BFGuru Oh, that is pretty nasty. You could have sued >.> (I think, depending on the situation). Or demanded it be taken down at the least. I have issues with people using my photos as their own. Apparently, I got it. Caused me some relationship issues as I appeared on a few dating sites when it certainly wasn't me. It's very unpleasant. So, I try not to post anything real online anymore if I can help it.
I issued a cease and desist before contacting a lawyer in that instance and my image was removed. Had I went lawyer route first, I probably could have regained some royalties. I was just angry they were using my picture and people were trusting the product because they knew me when I had no idea what the product was.
This isn't all that uncommon, unfortunately. Not only have I had photos stolen and used on dating sites, but I've then even been accused, later, by someone of having, myself, "stolen a photo from a dating site". I'm convinced that on one occasion the accuser was himself the culprit. I also know two other girls (both models - I'm not!) to whom very similar things have happened. In theory one can serve site taken-down notices in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act on the hosting company, but in reality that's enforceable only when the site's hosted within the US. Many "decent hosts" in other countries will honor such requests, but they don't have to.
My thinking has always been that I have time to be a photographer or an Internet cop, but not both. My images have appeared in all kinds of places on the Web, without attribution. People steal, and the nature of the Internet makes it easy. I just work harder to make more images and hope (I'm not quite at 'believe') that the thieves will get theirs in some fashion, someday.
