Passionate about plagiarism: how to defend yourself and combat plagiarism

Plagiarism on the internet is a bruised cloud looming on the horizon for many website owners. You may have been a victim. After spending hours creating, polishing, and tweaking your site’s content, the brutal storm of plagiarism arrives. You discover that someone has taken that content and published it on the Internet as if it were their own. What can be done to prepare and finally defuse the storm?

5 strategies to defend yourself and combat plagiarism

How to defend yourself and combat plagiarism? The following strategies will help prepare for and deal with plagiarism storms.

1. Strengthen – Build a defense by legally fortifying before the storm hits. Have your work officially copyrighted by the US Government Copyright Office Download the TX form and submit the basic registration fee of $ 45.00. This will ensure that you have legal protection in case you discover that your work has been plagiarized.

2. Inhibits – Clearly state on your website that your work has been legally copyrighted by the US government to inhibit word scrapers. This will act as a sign on a home warning burglars that it is protected by a security alarm.

3. guard – Strengthen your defense guard by subscribing to a service that will notify you when someone copies the content of one or more web pages such as Copyscape at http://www.copyscape.com. This service will be your security alarm alerting you that the job has been stolen. The company offers free and subscription-based services.

4. Have a plan – Design a plan to address the offender when you discover that your content has been removed. Effective plans include the following:
   1. Please contact the offending site using the site’s contact information and politely request the removal of the copyrighted material.
   2. If there is no response, contact the web hosting company.
   3. If there is no response, send a formal “Cease and Desist” letter by certified mail to the owner of the offending website or business. Examples of cease and desist letters can be found on the Internet.
   4. If there is still no response from the infringing website owner, you can contact the various search engines to report the copyright infringement. For example, see Google’s Policy on Responding to Alleged Copyright Infringement, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, at http://www.google.com/dmca.html.
5. To take action – Stick to your action plan and keep records. If you are having difficulty obtaining the contact information for the offending party or the web hosting company, research a whois database such as CentralOps.net.

A passionate defense against plagiarism is the first step in fighting copyright infringement. A predetermined practical action plan is a proven and effective solution to combat the storm of plagiarism when it hits.